São Paulo, Jan 3 (EFE).- The Brazilian city of Dourados, near the border with Paraguay, began a mass vaccination campaign against dengue this Wednesday, in a pioneering initiative in the country.
The Mayor’s Office of Dourados reported that it intends to vaccinate 150,000 people between 4 and 59 years of age, the majority of the city’s population, with the Qdenga vaccine, from the Japanese company Takeda.
Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, has gone ahead with this initiative to the Brazilian Government, which has signed an agreement with the Takeda laboratory to distribute the immunizer this year in the public health system.
According to the Ministry of Health, the Japanese laboratory will deliver 5.08 million doses to Brazil throughout 2024, in different batches that will arrive in the country between February and November.
The Brazilian Government managed to negotiate a 44% reduction in the cost per dose, going from the initial offer of 170 to 95 reais (from 34 to 19 dollars / from 31 to 17 euros).
The Qdenga vaccine, with two doses, was developed to prevent the spread of the four different serotypes of the virus and has an overall efficacy of 80.2%.
Brazil registered 1.6 million cases of dengue in the first eleven months of 2023, which represents an increase of 15.8% compared to the same period in 2022.
Brazilian authorities predict that the numbers will continue to rise in 2024 due to the El Niño meteorological phenomenon, which causes more heat and humidity in most of the Brazilian territory, conditions that favor the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector that transmits dengue.
Last December, the Government announced an investment of 256 million reais (about 52 million dollars) in prevention campaigns and programs to prevent the proliferation of the mosquito. EFE
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2024-01-03 20:01:00
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