The world’s first single-dose vaccine to prevent dengue fever has been approved for licensure in Brazil, one of the largest countries affected by the disease, according to MSN. The approval is the culmination of 16 years of research contributions by scientists at the University of Vermont Vaccine Testing Center (VTC)—led by VTC founder Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, who served as Principal Investigator—in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH).
“These milestones represent a turning point in global dengue prevention and treatment,” Dr. Kirkpatrick said. “We are proud of the role UVM has played in advancing science that will save lives worldwide.”
Kirkpatrick and colleagues began studying the candidate tetravalent (four-serotype) dengue vaccine in 2009 in collaboration with leaders in the dengue field: JHSPH professor Anna Durbin, M.D., and NIH virologist Steven Whitehead, Ph.D. Dr. Whitehead and colleagues at the NIH designed the candidate vaccine.
Since 2009, more than 27 clinical trials have been conducted at UVM and JHSPH to develop this vaccine, yielding many major scientific and immunologic insights.
This topic was also covered by the Burlington Free Press, Medical Xpress, NBC5, and the Nigerian Tribune