OBJECTIVES: Malaysia is currently experiencing the worst dengue endemic in the history. The first dengue vaccine has been licensed in 5 countries. As dengue vaccine moves closer to licensure in Malaysia with strong public interests, we aim to estimate the public acceptance and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a dengue vaccine. METHODS: A cross-sectional, contingent-valuation study was conducted using convenient sampling technique in Penang. Respondent aged above 18 year-olds who can understand either English or Malay language were interviewed face-to-face with a questionnaire to examine (i) acceptance of a safe and fully-protective dengue vaccine; (ii) WTP for 2 hypothetical dengue vaccines (A with 5 years’ protection and B with 10 years’ protection), if it was not provided free. A double-bounded dichotomous-choice approach was applied in eliciting the WTP amount via a bidding game approach. The mean WTP amount was explored by Heckman selection model, where the “protest zero” values were excluded. RESULTS: Results showed that 98% of the respondents agree to vaccinate themselves if the vaccine were provided free. 86.8% of respondents who were willing to buy the vaccine out-of-pocket (OOP) preferred vaccine B over vaccine A. 20.8% of respondents were not willing to buy the vaccines OOP. The mean WTP excluding the “protest zero” for Vaccine A and B were RM104.61 (SD±104.13) and RM158.05 (SD±145.97) per dose respectively. Key factors that affected the WTP are highest qualification, household dengue prevention practice, vaccination attitude and dengue vaccine acceptance. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that dengue vaccine is highly acceptable among general public in Penang with high uptake rate even if they have to pay OOP. The general public are willing to pay a higher price for the vaccine with longer protection duration. This study provides an insight to the private benefits of dengue vaccine and can also inform decision makers when planning for the mass vaccination roll-out.