Brazil will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population free of charge and on a large scale against dengue fever, one of the tropical diseases transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The Minister of Health Nísia Trindade announced it on her social networks: “We are integrating the dengue vaccine into the SUS [Sistema Único de Salud, la sanidad pública brasileña]. Brazil will be the first country to offer it in a country with a universal system like ours,” he celebrated.
Dengue fever causes, among other things, muscle weakness, drowsiness, vomiting or diarrhea and, in its most severe form, can lead to death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.8 million cases were detected across the Americas last year (the majority in Brazil, 2.3 million). So far this year, the disease has caused the deaths of 1,053 people in Brazil.
The vaccine approved by Brazil is called Qdenga and comes from the Japanese laboratory Takeda Pharma. The medicine has already been approved by European Union (EU) countries, which recommend it to travelers visiting risk areas. Indonesia, Thailand and Argentina have also approved the vaccine, but none have yet adopted it into the public system for widespread use.
Brazil will offer 6.2 million doses during 2024. The vaccination campaign will begin in February and is expected to protect 3.1 million Brazilians as the vaccine is administered in two doses. It is indicated for people between the ages of 4 and 60, but the ministry is aware that the amount is not enough for the entire exposed population. Therefore, some risk groups and regions with a higher incidence of disease are initially prioritized.
The Minister of Health emphasized that there is a willingness to buy more vaccines, but that the manufacturer does not have more production capacity. For this reason, a technology transfer is now being negotiated so that vaccines can be produced in Brazil. The country has two important reference centers: the Butantan Institute in São Paulo and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. Tens of millions of vaccines were produced here during the Covid-19 pandemic. “With these two laboratories we will achieve the scale that our country and the population need,” promised the minister.
The vaccine comes at a crucial time. In 2023, the number of dengue cases in Brazil (excluding December) exceeded 1.6 million, an increase of 15.8% compared to the same period last year. The increase in cases is largely due to the increase in temperatures caused by the El Niño phenomenon, which favors the reproduction of mosquitoes and spreads the disease to normally more temperate regions. In addition, dengue fever type 3 was circulating again, which had not happened in 15 years.
In addition to vaccines, the government promised to increase surveillance ahead of the summer season now beginning. It will invest 256 million reais ($52.7 million) to prevent dengue and other diseases caused by Aedes Aegipty, such as Zika and chikungunya.
Strengthening the National Immunization Program (PNI), one of the most successful public health models in Brazil, is one of the current government's priorities after the abandonment of Jair Bolsonaro's government, which has endured the entire COVID-19 pandemic. Covid-19 raises doubts about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
In the same week, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo published that Brazil left 39 million doses against Covid-19 unused and that they had to be burned when they expired. That's almost 5% of the total that Brazil bought, a waste of 1.4 billion reais (more than $288 million). Experts attribute this waste to logistical problems, the lack of a more vigorous vaccination campaign and the right-wing former president's own propaganda, which eventually linked the anti-Covid-19 vaccine to the risk of AIDS disease. The public prosecutor's office is now investigating whether the destruction of expired vaccines could constitute a crime of embezzlement.
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