Health ignores imported vaccine against dengue and intends to wait until 2024 for national

The Ministry of Health must wait at least until the end of 2024 to start distributing a dengue vaccine produced by the Butantan Institute that is still being studied, to the detriment of an imported version that already has proven efficacy in more than 80% and was approved by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) in March. The information was revealed by the newspaper O Globo this Tuesday (4) and confirmed by the folder.

According to the investigation, the ministry is monitoring the national vaccine research, but ignoring the one developed by the Japanese laboratory Takeda, which can already be found in the private network for R$ 400 to R$ 500 a dose. The imported version has an overall effectiveness of 80.2% against any type of dengue serotype and can be applied to children over 4 years of age, adolescents and adults up to 60 years of age.

The national version, on the other hand, has been under study since 2009 and should only have the research sent for analysis by Anvisa at the end of next year – which would lead to approval and distribution for 2025.

In a press release, the Ministry of Health stated that “it has a policy of guaranteeing national production, avoiding the tragedy observed in the Covid-19 pandemic, when there was a lack of ventilators and even elementary personal protective equipment”.

However, he says, he maintains an open dialogue with Takeda, but that no request has been sent to the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies of the SUS (Conitec), a mandatory procedure for incorporating the immunizer.

Data from the Arboviruses Emergency Operations Center, Brazil registered 1.38 million probable cases of dengue until the beginning of June, 22% more than those registered in the same period last year.

Alexandre Naime Barbosa, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (SBI), said that “waiting for a vaccine from the Butantan Institute can cost lives, especially for the most vulnerable groups”. Preliminary studies indicate an efficacy of 79.6%, but only in serotypes 1 and 2 – 3 and 4 there are still no results.