Dengue fever, endemic in many tropical and subtropical countries, is a major cause of illness in travelers, but severe dengue fever and resulting hospitalizations or deaths are rare in this population. There are two vaccines against dengue fever, Dengvaxia® and Qdenga®. While there is no recommendation for Dengvaxia® for use in travelers, Qdenga® has been approved for travelers in many European countries since December 2022. Swissmedic's approval for use in Switzerland is expected in the second half of 2024.
The Swiss Expert Committee for Travel Medicine (EKRM) has evaluated the published and unpublished data on the Qdenga® vaccine and makes the following recommendation:
- Vaccination against dengue fever virus with Qdenga® in persons without previous dengue fever infection is not recommended.
- Vaccination with Qdenga® may be recommended for travelers 4 years of age and older if they have had a confirmed previous dengue infection AND will be exposed in a region with significant dengue transmission.
Travel health advisors should provide information in plain language about the complexities and risk-benefit trade-offs of using dengue vaccines in travelers.
Details of the position statement can be found at LINK.