SES will question criteria to define municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul receiving the first shipment of dengue vaccines

First shipment of dengue vaccines should serve Porto Alegre, Alvorada, Cachoeirinha, Glorinha, Gravataí and Viamão.Jhonatan Cantarelle / Agência Saúde DF / Disclosure

In a meeting with the Ministry of Health this Monday morning (29), epidemiologist Tani Ranieri, coordinator of the State Health Surveillance Center of the State (Cevs), of the State Department of Health (SES), will question what were the criteria considered by the federal government to choose the municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul to receive the first shipment of dengue vaccines. The batch with 126 thousand doses of Qdenga is scheduled to arrive in Porto Alegre on Tuesday (30).

It was decided that the first region covered is Region 10, which covers Porto Alegre, Alvorada, Cachoeirinha, Glorinha, Gravataí and Viamão. Among the six municipalities, there are some with a tiny number of cases, such as Glorinha, whose population is estimated at 7.6 thousand people and where there were six confirmations for dengue this Sunday afternoon (28), according to the SES panel.

— The Ministry of Health covered all municipalities in Region 10, but Glorinha is a municipality where the incidence is very low. Furthermore, why only these municipalities, when we have several others with a worrying situation? Ideally, we could have had a dialogue before the Ministry of Health decided on the recipients — says Tani.

With experience in defining broad vaccination strategies since the covid-19 pandemic, Tani says that prepared a report with the municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul that should be urgently assisted by immunization against dengue fever. The document was delivered to Health Secretary Arita Bergmann.

Cities where dengue has already caused deaths this year, such as New Hamburgwith 11 deaths from the disease and around 7,800 confirmed cases, criticized the choice of the Ministry of Health. Fátima Daudt, mayor of the municipality in Vale do Sinos, issued a note saying that the ministry’s reasoning for defining the recipients was not clear.

“It makes more sense to make the vaccine available where it is most needed, that is, where there are more cases and deaths recorded and, therefore, where it can save more lives. The Ministry of Health urgently needs to reevaluate its dose distribution criteria“, argues the mayor.

Another municipality in Vale do Sinos with a high incidence of dengue, Sao Leopoldo decided to file a request for the Ministry of Health to include the city in the next shipment. There have already been 15 deaths and 8,500 confirmed cases of the disease.

“I found this vaccination announcement strange without including our population, given the serious numbers we have of dengue in the city. We are already forwarding a request to the Ministry to include São Leopoldo in the next stage”, wrote Mayor Ary Vanazzi in a note.

Vaccination age group

Scheduled for 10 am on Monday, the virtual meeting with the Ministry of Health will also serve to officially determine which age group will initially be served with Qdenga. The general guidance from the federal government is that the first in line are teenagers between 10 and 14 years old.

— I believe that, as happened in other states, the indication will be for young people aged 10 to 14. In any case, we need to listen to the Ministry of Health to understand all the criteria. And I would also like to discuss the possibility of expanding the list of municipalities covered — says Tani.

All 126,132 units of dengue vaccines that arrive in Rio Grande do Sul will be used to apply the first dose of the Qdenga vaccine, produced by the Takeda laboratory. Three months later, the second application must be made, but with a new shipment sent by the federal government.

According to Tani, the ideal for vaccination against dengue would be to use an immunizer approved for people over 60 years of age, those most vulnerable to hospitalization. Qdenga, however, has only been tested on people between four and 60 years old. But it is an immunizer capable of protecting even those who have not yet been infected, unlike Dengvaxia, which is only effective for those who have contracted a serotype of the disease.

— Qdenga is a quadrivalent vaccine, which protects against the four types of dengue virus, but with much higher protection against viruses one and two — adds Tani.