Sanofi Pasteur is holding a press conference to claim that the vaccination program of the Department of Health (DOH) to children in the Philippines, where the drug firm's vaccine Dengvaxia was administered, did more benefit in general than harm.
The press briefing was led by Sanofi Pasteur Global Medical Head Dr. Su Peing and other Sanofi officials.
The reason they provided is that majority of Filipinos are already infected with or exposed to the dengue virus before or when they reach adulthood anyway.
They claimed that 9 out of 10 Filipinos already have symptoms, whether they are aware of it or not.
They added that in their clinical trial, all those who contracted dengue, whether or not they have had the illness prior to the vaccination, have recovered.
They said only one in 800 persons who were given the vaccine experienced severe dengue.
They claimed "severe" meant the person who got the vaccine experienced fever for two days.
No fatalities took place, they stressed.
Nevertheless, Sanofi is proposing to change the product labeling for Dengvaxia.
The company has no plans of recalling the vaccine from drug stores.