A Japanese vaccine against dengue may arrive this year, the Department of Health (DOH) bared Wednesday.

In a televised interview, DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently studying the approval of a dengue vaccine produced by Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

“Kinausap ko na sila last year at nag-apply na rin sila ng CPR (Certificate of Product Registration), yung rehistro sa ating FDA (I already talked to them last year and they already applied for the CPR, the FDA registration),” Herbosa said.

“So yun hinihintay lang natin ang FDA, ang FDA medyo aaralin pa iyong mga sina-submit nilang mga requirements at kapag na-approve yan, dadating (So we are just waiting for the FDA, the FDA will still study the requirements they are submitting and when it is approved, the vaccines will come here),” he added.

Herbosa, however, noted that vaccine is not the only solution to control the rise of dengue cases.

He stressed that vector control is the more effective strategy to control the viral infection, highlighting the Wolbachia Program, a notable initiative of Singapore that uses bacteria in mosquitoes to disrupt the dengue transmission process.

“Hindi bakuna ang solusyon, vector control, and alam ko yan, nagtrabaho din ako sa Malaysia. Talagang vector control ang importanteng solusyon sa dengue during the season, kasi kapag season yan, kahit magbakuna ka pa ng madauuming tao, useless yun, kasi you need two doses (The solution is not a vaccine, but vector control, and I know that, I also worked in Malaysia. Vector control is really an important solution to dengue during the season, because during that season, even if you vaccinate infected people, it's useless, because you need two doses),” he continued.

“So hindi bakuna ang solusyon natin dito sa dengue season natin ngayon, vector control (So vaccines are not the solution for the dengue season, but vector control),” he added.

According to Singapore’s National Environment Agency, Project Wolbachia uses male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti (Wolbachia-Aedes) mosquitoes to reduce the dengue mosquito population.

Since its implementation in the country in 2023, Singapore was able to reduce the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and up to 77 percent are less likely to get dengue at release areas.

“So dalawa yan, hinihintay ko yung Takeda vaccine at hinihintay ko itong Wolbachia studies na puwedeng gawin dito sa ibang bansa (So we’re waiting for first, Takeda vaccine. Second, Wolbachia studies to see if that can be implemented here too).”