KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Malaysia has no immediate plans to introduce the Qdenga dengue vaccine into the National Immunisation Programme (NIP), as the country does not yet meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) threshold for widespread use of the vaccine, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad told Parliament today.
Instead, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is looking to expand the deployment of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes as a primary dengue control strategy, citing encouraging early results but acknowledging that the approach will require time and funding.
“For Qdenga to be introduced into the NIP, WHO recommends its use only if the seroprevalence – that is, the rate of prior dengue infection – among children aged 9 to 16 is more than 60 per cent. At the moment, Malaysia has not reached that threshold,” Dzulkefly said in response to Kuala Langat MP Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“The 60 per cent seroprevalence is currently only seen among those aged 45 to 73. Therefore, we will continue monitoring the progress of this vaccine based on strong scientific evidence – including efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness.”
The Drug Control Authority (DCA) has granted conditional approval to Qdenga in February 2024 to prevent dengue fever in individuals aged four years and older. It is currently the only dengue vaccine available for use in Malaysia.
Qdenga, developed by Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda, is already available in private health care facilities, including general practitioner (GP) clinics and private hospitals such as KPJ, Columbia Asia, and Beacon Hospital.
Qdenga is the world’s first dengue vaccine approved for individuals regardless of prior dengue exposure. However, WHO’s recommendation restricts its use in routine immunisation programmes to settings where high transmission of dengue poses a significant public health problem.
In the absence of a national dengue vaccination rollout, MOH is betting on Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, a biological control method that prevents dengue transmission by rendering Aedes mosquitoes incapable of carrying the virus.
“Wolbachia is the way forward. That’s our policy,” Dzulkefly said. “We’ve implemented this in 45 localities so far, and over the first two years, we’ve observed effectiveness ranging from 45 per cent to 100 per cent – in some areas, we’ve seen complete elimination of dengue cases, like in parts of Penang.”
The minister stressed that while Wolbachia has shown promise, it remains in a research and rollout phase and will take time and investment to scale up nationally.
“Give us time. This is still in the implementation and evaluation phase. With more funding and time, we hope to expand it further,” Dzulkefly told Pulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat in a supplementary question.
He added that dengue remains a serious public health threat. As of now, Malaysia has recorded 34,422 dengue cases and 21 deaths, according to the government’s iDengue portal — a significant decline from the 122,423 cases and 117 deaths reported in 2024.
“In fact, dengue deaths this year have exceeded Covid deaths, which has one,” he said.
Dzulkefly also acknowledged the recurrence of dengue hotspots, particularly in urbanised and densely populated states like Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, amid concerns about the perceived ineffectiveness of conventional control measures such as fogging.
He said the Ministry of Health is working to improve dengue outbreak prediction through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which could help identify and manage hotspots before they escalate.
Dzulkefly further noted that a next-generation oral dengue vaccine is currently in preclinical development at the University of Malaya, alongside efforts to develop dengue antiviral drugs in collaboration with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM).
“These are long-term efforts, but all are part of a broader strategy to develop better tools for dengue prevention and treatment,” he said.