Health reevaluates dengue vaccine in schools after allergies – 03/12/2024 – Health

In a meeting this Tuesday (12), the Health Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported that it does not know whether it will continue vaccination against dengue in schools, keeping the applications only in health units.

The reevaluation came as a result of episodes of allergic reactions that led the Ministry of Health to understand the need for vaccinations to be carried out in an assisted manner, to adequately monitor possible reactions.

The ministry’s new recommendation includes that observations be made for 15 to 30 minutes after applying the vaccine. Despite the reported cases of reactions, the vaccine is considered safe by experts.

The information was given during the dengue epidemiological scenario update meeting, in week 10 in the country. At the meeting, the Ministry’s Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance, Ethel Maciel, and the COE team presented the main actions to prevent and control the disease.

The body will still discuss whether there is a need for a new D-Day, which will be the topic of the next meeting with the Technical Chamber.

Epidemiological week 10 closed with 450 confirmed deaths from the disease and 849 under investigation. There was an increase in serious cases, with 12,652 registered, according to the ministry’s daily report.

Minas Gerais, the state with the highest number of cases to date, confirmed 185,690 cases of dengue. To date, there are 66 confirmed deaths from the disease in the state and 308 under investigation.

In the last week, the state has seen a slowdown, which does not represent a drop in the number of cases. “Decrease does not mean stopping growing, it means growing slower”, explains the director of the Department of Public Health Emergencies (DEMSP) and responsible for commanding the COE Dengue and other Arboviruses, Márcio Garcia.

In total, R$54 million was allocated to combat dengue through ordinances for the Federal District, Goiás and Minas Gerais, in addition to 79 municipalities.

The lethality level of the total number of serious cases in 2024 is 3.43%. In the entire year 2023, this index was 5.1%. The highest concentration of deaths continues to be among the elderly.

The Secretary of Surveillance also stated that climate change is a factor that has generated an atypical situation of dengue in recent years in the country and believes that the situation should continue.

“With climate change we are going to have many atypical years. The idea is that we will have a way to go. We have the vaccine, but we will need to work on expanding production and see what we will do to get to what we would like What is elimination? [do vírus]”.

Prevention and treatment

The director of DEMSP highlighted that bleeding is not the only indication of a serious dengue condition, reinforcing the need to pay attention to symptoms such as abdominal pain and vomiting.

He also points out that, if treated immediately, it is possible to avoid deaths in cases at this stage. “These cases may not evolve into a more serious case and, consequently, may not progress to death,” he says.

With the absence of an antiviral against the disease, the team highlighted prevention and care. “D-day is super important, but the fight is daily, weekly,” says Garcia.

Among the actions, the group reinforced the need for prophylaxis such as covering water tanks and other water reservoirs, applying repellents and checking items that can accumulate stagnant water, such as tires, bottles and even plants.

The possibility of distributing self-tests against the disease was also a point discussed at the meeting, but the topic is still being discussed by the center with Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), as explained by the general coordinator of Public Health Laboratories, Marília Santini .

“Unlike the [teste] of Covid which was used to prevent transmission, in dengue there is no such benefit, so we are in this technical discussion (…) But we have already asked Anvisa that all products for diagnosing dengue be prioritized”, he said.