Peter Wallace’s Sept. 24 column on vaccines and Dengvaxia is reckless and uninformed.
Dengvaxia was found to result in more severe cases among patients infected with dengue for the first time. In some, it overly potentiates the immune response to the virus, which is precisely what causes platelet destruction and blood vessel damage.
Similarly, it is the overexuberant immune/inflammatory response to COVID-19 that kills—inflammatory pneumonia. If any of the COVID-19 vaccines now being railroaded for use does what Dengvaxia inadvertently does, and administered in the billions, it would be a nightmare.
An errant vaccine, however belated, would be much more calamitous than the virus itself. Caution cannot be overemphasized. There is no need to rush these vaccines. We could end up rushing into a cliff.
MAXIMO TANDOC, MD
maxtandoc@gmail.com