Indonesia plans to develop homegrown vaccine against dengue fever, illustration photo

Jakarta - Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) plans to initiate the development of a homegrown dengue hemorrhagic fever (DBD) vaccine.

As reported by the national news agency Antara, Doddy Irawan Setyo Utomo, a vaccine development researcher at the vaccine and drug research centre of BRIN’s Health Research Organisation, said the vaccine development is planned to use the virus-like particle (VLP) method that can trigger the formation of antibodies.

Utomo said the method used for developing the dengue vaccine in Indonesia is different from Dengvaxia and Qdenga, which have already been in circulation and use virus weakening methods.

According to him, through the VLP method, the effectiveness of the vaccine developed by Indonesia can reach 90-95%.

Utomo said the development process itself can take 5-10 years, because it must go through clinical trials, safety, regulatory approval, and a mass production process.