Brazil Becomes First Country to Offer Free Dengue Vaccine to Entire Population

Brazil will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population free of charge and on a large scale against dengue, one of the tropical diseases transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, announced it on her social networks: “We incorporated the dengue vaccine into the SUS [Sistema Único de Salud, la sanidad pública brasileña]. Brazil will be the first to offer it in a country with a universal system…

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Brazil will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population free of charge and on a large scale against dengue, one of the tropical diseases transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, announced it on her social networks: “We incorporated the dengue vaccine into the SUS [Sistema Único de Salud, la sanidad pública brasileña]. “Brazil will be the first to offer it in a country with a universal system like ours,” he celebrated.

Dengue causes muscle weakness, drowsiness, vomiting or diarrhea, among other symptoms, and in its most serious variants it can cause death. Last year, 2.8 million cases were detected throughout the American continent (the majority in Brazil, 2.3 million), according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). So far this year, the disease has caused the death of 1,053 people in Brazil.

The vaccine approved by Brazil is called Qdenga and is from the Japanese laboratory Takeda Pharma. The medicine has already been approved by the countries of the European Union (EU), which recommend it to travelers who are going to visit risk areas. Indonesia, Thailand and Argentina have also approved the vaccine, but so far none have adopted it into the public system for large-scale use.

Brazil will offer 6.2 million doses throughout 2024. The vaccination campaign will start in February, and it is expected to protect 3.1 million Brazilians, because the vaccine is applied in two doses. It is indicated for people between 4 and 60 years old, but the ministry is aware that the amount is insufficient for the entire exposed population. Therefore, at first some risk groups and regions with a higher incidence of the disease will be prioritized.

The Minister of Health stressed that there was a willingness to buy more vaccines, but the manufacturer does not have more manufacturing capacity. For this reason, technology transfer is now being negotiated so that vaccines can be made in Brazil. The country has two important reference centers: the Butantan Institute in São Paulo and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. During the covid-19 pandemic, tens of millions of vaccines came out of here. “With these two laboratories we will reach the scale that our country and the population need,” the minister promised.

The vaccine arrives at a key time. In 2023, dengue cases in Brazil (not counting the month of December) exceeded 1.6 million, an increase of 15.8% compared to the same period last year. The increase in cases is largely explained by the increase in temperatures caused by the El Niño phenomenon, which favors mosquito reproduction and brings the disease to normally more temperate regions. In addition, dengue type 3 circulated again, something that had not happened for 15 years.

In addition to vaccines, the Government promised to reinforce surveillance before the summer season that is now starting. It will invest 256 million reais (52.7 million dollars) to prevent dengue and other diseases caused by Aedes Aegipty, such as Zika and chikungunya.

The strengthening of the National Immunization Program (PNI), one of the most successful models of public health in Brazil, is one of the priorities of the current administration, after the abandonment of Jair Bolsonaro’s Government, which went through the entire COVID-19 pandemic. covid-19 casting doubt on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

This same week, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo published that Brazil left 39 million doses against covid-19 unused, and they had to be incinerated when they lost their validity. It is almost 5% of the total that Brazil bought, a waste of 1.4 billion reais (more than 288 million dollars). Specialists attribute this waste to logistical problems, the lack of a more robust immunization campaign and the far-right former president’s own propaganda, who came to associate the anti-Covid-19 vaccine with the risk of developing AIDS. Now, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating whether the destruction of expired vaccines could constitute a crime of embezzlement.

2023-12-23 04:30:00
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