Rio starts vaccination against dengue this Friday (23) – 02/22/2024 – Health

The city of Rio begins vaccination against dengue this Friday (23) for children aged 10 years. Boys and girls of this age can receive the first dose at any Primary Care unit in the city from 2 pm.

Those aged 11 will be vaccinated starting next Wednesday (28). The schedule for the other groups should be released in the coming days.

The vaccination schedule will follow a pattern similar to that done for Covid-19 vaccination, when there were not enough doses for everyone.

The first batch of dengue vaccines, sent by the Ministry of Health, arrived this Thursday (22) in the state of Rio. There are 231,928 doses that will be distributed to 11 municipalities already chosen by the federal government to apply the vaccine.

141,710 doses were allocated to the city of Rio. In addition to the capital of Rio de Janeiro, the vaccines will be delivered to Nilópolis, Duque de Caxias, Nova Iguaçu, São João de Meriti, Itaguaí, Magé, Belford Roxo, Mesquita, Seropédica, Japeri and Queimados.

Immunization will continue in a staggered manner, for people aged 10 to 14, as per guidance from the Ministry of Health. The ministry defined that this will be the first age group to receive the Qdenga immunizer, manufactured by the Japanese laboratory Takeda and recently incorporated by the Ministry from Health to the PNI (National Immunization Program).

Also on Thursday, the decree recognizing the dengue epidemic throughout Rio de Janeiro was published in the Official Gazette.

The measure was taken due to the growth in the number of the disease in the state, which will reach almost 50 thousand cases in 2024. This year alone, five people died from dengue fever.

The fifth death was confirmed this Wednesday (21). The victim is a 76-year-old woman who lived in Barra do Piraí, in the south of Rio de Janeiro. The death occurred on February 9, but tests confirmed death from dengue on Wednesday afternoon.

Two other deaths were recorded in the capital, one in Itatiaia and one in Mangaratiba.

The city of Rio already accumulates 21 thousand cases of dengue in 2024. The number is almost the same as the number of occurrences in the entire year 2023, which totaled 23 thousand occurrences. The municipality, which has already recorded two deaths from the disease at the beginning of the year, has been in an emergency situation since the 5th of this month.

Before the start of the immunization calendar in the capital, the city council began vaccinating residents of the Guaratiba region, in the west zone of Rio, last week. The action is part of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine among adults.

For the research, 20,000 people between 18 and 40 years of age will be vaccinated, who will be monitored for two years by researchers from Fiocruz (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz). The study will observe the difference in the behavior of the virus between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The expectation is that the data collected will offer new scientific evidence for decision-making on vaccinating other audiences approved by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency).