As of May 26, 2026, Selangor has recorded 12,863 dengue cases, accounting for 46 per cent of the national dengue burden.
Thirteen lives have been lost, which is a 6.5-fold increase compared to the same period last year. The state is now home to 34 of Malaysia’s 57 dengue hotspots, or 59 per cent of the total.
All deaths have occurred among working-age adults and students, which is a tragic and preventable loss of lives in their most productive years.
In October 2025, the Selangor Public Health Advisory Council (SELPHAC), in collaboration with the Dengue Prevention Advocacy Malaysia (DPAM), submitted a clear set of policy recommendations to the State Public Health and Environment Exco.
They strongly advocated introducing a dengue immunisation programme, prioritising population sub-groups with the highest disease burden, and conducting a pilot to assess feasibility, scalability and sustainability.
Yet, nearly a year later, Selangor remains without a state-led dengue vaccination initiative.
The rationale for action has only grown stronger. Qdenga is the most comprehensively studied dengue vaccine in the world.
In January 2026, Takeda announced the completion of its seven-year Phase 3 TIDES trial, confirming that two doses provide sustained protection across all four dengue serotypes, with no new safety signals identified.
The vaccine has been approved in over 41 countries, with more than 18 million doses administered globally. Since May 2024, it has also been prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has explicitly recommended Qdenga for use in high-burden settings and states that vaccination should be part of an integrated strategy for dengue control.
Selangor meets the WHO criteria for high transmission intensity, and its current Integrated Management Strategy, which is focused heavily on fogging and source reduction, has not been able to bend the curve. It is time to supplement these traditional measures with a proven biomedical intervention.
Some will argue that fiscal constraints are a barrier. Yet, the estimated cost of dengue to Malaysia is approximately US$200 million per year. That is equivalent to roughly RM900 million annually.
Meanwhile, the state has already committed RM4 million a year to control activities that, despite best efforts, are not yielding the desired results.
Qdenga is available in the private market for RM400 to RM500 for two doses. With government procurement and economies of scale, a targeted pilot programme in Selangor’s 34 hotspots would be a fraction of the current economic burden, and likely a fraction of what the state is already spending on treatment, lost productivity, and outbreak response.
Selangor cannot afford to continue a cautious wait-and-see stance. Every week of delay means more infections, more hospitalisations, and more deaths among the very people the state relies upon for economic growth and social stability.
The science is clear, the WHO guidance is clear, and the human cost is mounting by the day.
We call upon the Selangor state government to immediately:
- Launch a targeted pilot immunisation programme in the state’s highest-burden hotspots, prioritising working-age adults and students—the groups currently bearing the brunt of mortality.
- Negotiate with the federal government and vaccine manufacturer to secure affordable, large-scale procurement of Qdenga, leveraging Selangor’s economic strength and bargaining power.
- Integrate vaccination as a core pillar of the state’s Integrated Management Strategy for dengue, alongside vector control, case management and community engagement.
Selangor is Malaysia’s economic engine. It cannot afford to let a preventable disease continue to claim its people and its productivity. The time to act is now.
Dr Musa Mohd Nordin is a paediatrician, Dr Zulkifli Ismail is a paediatrician and chairman of Dengue Prevention Advocacy Malaysia (DPAM), Dr Nur Abdul Karim is an emergency physician, and Dr Koh Kar Chai is a past president of Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
