Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay said she supports calls for the approval of a new generation dengue vaccine, citing the need for the government to exhaust all remedies to curb the rise of dengue in the country.
“I think it’s time for the new dengue vaccine to be approved, and we need to ask the Department of Health (DOH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) what is the status of the application because it was passed in April 2023,” Binay said.
The senator said she is concerned over the steep rise of dengue incidents in the country, as she recalled that her own son had recently been hit with the illness.
Binay pointed out that the government’s current approach to addressing dengue might already be inadequate.
“If we do it again and again but the cases keep increasing, maybe the 5S approach is insufficient and ineffective,” said the lawmaker.
“In this case, it’s only right that we re-calibrate our approach to ensure that we are actually addressing the issue,” she stressed.
The new dengue vaccine, TAK003 from the Japanese manufacturer, Takeda, has been licensed in more than 40 countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, and the European Union.
The TAK003 has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for dengue prevention in highly endemic countries including the Philippines.
The DOH earlier said more than 43,000 cases of dengue have been recorded from January to February 15, 2025 alone, marking a 56 percent increase from the 27,995 cases logged in the same period last year.
Most of the cases have been found in three regions: Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) logged 9,111 cases; the National Capital Region with 7,551 cases; and Central Luzon with 7,362 cases.
DOH also added that 17 local government units (LGUs) from these regions have been declared as dengue hotspots.