Brazil to release its own dengue vaccine

Brasilia: Brazil has said the vaccine against dengue developed in the country will be available by 2018 when all tests are completed.

"We are currently hoping for a safe vaccine against dengue to be developed fully... At best we will have the vaccine in 2018," Xinhua quoted Brazil's Health Minister Artur Chioro as saying on Thursday.

The biomedical research centres -- the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo and the Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro -- are currently carrying out the tests. 

The Butantan Institute last week received approval from the National Technical Commission for Biosecurity (CTNBio) to begin the vaccination's third phase of clinical studies.