The Singapore Armed Forces can play an active role in
Dengue vaccine test rather than recruiting 1,200 people off the
streets. SAF should immune our soldiers as they have a higher risk
of getting dengue through jungle exercises.
Singapore has started a clinical trial of a proposed vaccine for
the dengue virus.
Since April this year, a team has been trying to recruit 1,200
people, aged two to 45, in four public hospitals for the trial, run
by French vaccines giant Sanofi Pasteur, an arm of Sanofi-Aventis
Group.
Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, clinical director of the
Communicable Disease Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said the
vaccine is expected to work against the four different strands of
the virus, all currently present in Singapore.
Trial participants will be given either the dengue vaccine or a
"control" vaccine - either a vaccine for hepatitis A or
influenza.
A comparison between the results of the two will show how safe
the dengue vaccine is.
Three injections over the span of a year will be administered
and participants will have their health monitored for four
years.
While ongoing Sanofi trials in Thailand aim to test how
effectively the vaccine prevents infection, its Singapore trials
will focus on the safety of the vaccine and the body's immune
responses to it.
To date, around 1,200 people in other parts of the world have
received at least one dose without major side-effects, said
Sanofi's director of clinical development, Dr Melanie Saville.
Mild side-effects, common to most vaccines, include soreness and
mild fever, she said.
Despite decades of research, a successful vaccine has not been
developed, partly because an effective one would need to protect
against all four strains of the virus.
If trials are successful, Dr Saville estimates that the licensed
vaccine could be available within the next seven years.
When asked by my paper whether the vaccine, if approved, could
eliminate dengue in the region, Prof Leo said: "If it's proven to
be safe, effective and able to be co-administered with other
vaccines, then yes."
But she stressed that dengue prevention has to remain
multi-pronged: "It doesn't mean that with a vaccine, we should be
more relaxed on the vector of transmission."