Dengue vaccine is incorporated into SUS

Immunization

It is expected that 5 million doses will be delivered in 2024

The Ministry of Health decided to incorporate, this Thursday (21), the dengue vaccine into the Unified Health System (SUS). According to the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, Brazil is the first country in the world to offer the vaccine in the universal public system.

Known as Qdenga, the vaccine will not be made available on a large scale at first, but will be focused on the public and priority regions. The incorporation of the immunizing agent was analyzed and approved by the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies into the SUS (Conitec).

“The Ministry of Health assessed the cost-benefit ratio and the issue of access, since in a country like Brazil it is necessary to have an adequate quantity of vaccines for the size of our population. Based on Conitec’s favorable opinion, we will be the first country to provide public access to this vaccine, as a SUS immunizer. And, by the beginning of the year, we will define target audiences taking into account Takeda’s limitation on the number of vaccines available. We will prioritize,”

explained the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade.

The strategy for using the quantity of vaccines will be defined by the National Immunization Program (PNI) and the Technical Advisory Chamber on Immunization (CTAI), which will also stipulate the priority target audience and regions with the highest incidence of the disease for the application of doses. These strategies should be defined in the first weeks of January.

According to the laboratory, the forecast is that 5.082 million doses will be delivered in 2024, between February and November. The vaccination schedule consists of two doses.

The Qdenga immunizer is registered with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) with indication for preventing dengue fever caused by any serotype of the virus for people aged 4 to 60 years, regardless of previous exposure.

For the vice-president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIm), Renato Kfouri, the vaccine will be important to control dengue in the country. “Dengue is a disease that impacts practically the entire national territory and vector control has been insufficient to reduce infection rates. We are closing the year with record numbers of deaths. The vaccine, without a doubt, together with other measures, will be an important instrument for controlling this disease,” he said.

According to him, the World Health Organization recommends between 6 and 16 years of age as the ideal age range for introducing the vaccine. Within this age group, there are already other immunizers that can be associated with the application of the dengue vaccine and optimize care in hospitals.

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