Dengue Moment

For a country that has lived with dengue as a seasonal inevitability, the emergence of DengiAll, India's indigenous single-shot dengue vaccine now in advanced trials in Delhi, is more than a scientific milestone.

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It is a test of whether India can finally shift from managing outbreaks to preventing them. After years of incremental progress, the possibility of a tetravalent vaccine designed for real-world conditions marks a turning point in how the disease is understood ~ and confronted.

Dengue has always been an awkward adversary. Unlike many viral infections, it does not reward partial victories. Infection with one strain offers little comfort, and in some cases increases the danger when the next strain arrives. This peculiar biology has defeated earlier vaccine attempts and complicated public trust. The scars of past controversies, both global and domestic, still shape public perception. Any new candidate, therefore, carries not just scientific expectations, but the burden of restoring confidence.