02/03/2024 – 18:06
The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, said this Saturday (3) that the government is considering expanding the supply of vaccines against dengue in the country. The information was passed on during the opening of the Emergency Operations Center (COE) against dengue, in Brasília. According to the minister, meetings were held with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and the Butantã Institute to address the issue.
“All our efforts will be to expand this offer [de vacinas]”, said the minister.
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Brazil is the first country in the world to offer the vaccine in the public health system. The first shipment with around 757 thousand doses arrived in Brazil on January 20. The batch is part of a total of 1.32 million doses supplied by the pharmaceutical company responsible for Qdenga. Another shipment, with more than 568 thousand doses, is scheduled for delivery in February. The country is expected to receive 5.2 million doses this year. Initially, the vaccine will be applied to the population in endemic regions, in 521 municipalities. For 2025, the department has already contracted another 9 million doses.
Even with the expansion, the minister highlighted that the offer of the vaccine will not have immediate impacts on the fight against the disease.
“They [as vacinas] they mean a lot, especially because we acquired vaccines for 2024 and 2025 and all our efforts will be to expand this supply, but it will not have an impact in this initial interval of a few months”, he pointed out.
emergency center
The Ministry of Health informed that the COE will expand monitoring of the dengue situation in the country, to guide actions aimed at epidemiological, laboratory, care and vector control surveillance. The structure, in coordination with states and municipalities, will collect and analyze data, produce reports and disseminate information through bulletins and epidemiological reports.
Data from the department's arbovirus case update panel show that, from January until now, Brazil has registered 243,721 probable cases of dengue. The disease has already caused at least 29 confirmed deaths, another 170 are under investigation
Local epidemic
During the ceremony, Nísia stressed that the dengue situation is more worrying at the moment in some municipalities in Acre, in the Federal District, in Minas Gerais, in Rio de Janeiro and also in Paraná.
“Now, we have a concentration in the Southeast, Central-West and South regions, but this does not characterize a national emergency, a national epidemic, but an epidemic at a local level”, he stated.
The rainy season and high temperatures in Brazil are a favorable environment for the increase in arboviruses, such as dengue.
Prevention
The Ministry of Health reinforces that the main measure is the elimination of mosquito breeding sites. And it highlights the importance of the population receiving endemic disease control agents and community health agents, who will help find and eliminate possible breeding sites.
“The symptoms of dengue, chikungunya or zika are similar. They include fever with an abrupt onset accompanied by headache, body and joint pain, prostration, weakness, pain behind the eyes, rash and itching on the skin, red spots on the body, as well as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain”, he explains.
The advice is to seek the health service closest to home as soon as the first symptoms appear.
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