THE Department of Health has announced that dengue vaccine will be available in the market next year.

The vaccine, which has been tested two years ago, in five different Asian countries including the Philippines, showed a promising result.

At least, 3,500 children, 2 to 4 years old, from Cebu and San Pablo participated in the study trial of the vaccine.

Health experts said that three doses of the vaccine are needed to reduce the risk of hospitalization due to dengue fever.

The vaccine should cover all four dengue strains (Type 1, 2, 3, 4). One type could give you a life-long protection against the same strain, but not from the other remaining three. This means that a person could get all four types of the dengue virus in his lifetime.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona is optimistic that the government will be able to eliminate dengue as a major public health threat.

Dengue has been considered a plague by experts for the past 10 years.

This year alone, the DOH has recorded a total of 31,088 dengue cases.

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