Immunizers are part of the 1st donated batch distributed by the Ministry of Health; agency says doses are “minimum residual quantity”
Health Departments of 5 States (Amazonas, Bahia, São Paulo, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte) informed the Power360 have at least 5,563 doses of dengue vaccines that expire this Tuesday (April 30, 2024). The amount is part of the 1st batch of 668 thousand immunizers distributed in February by the Ministry of Health to the health departments of the UFs (federative units) and municipalities.
Below is the number of doses received and the quantity that will expire this Tuesday (April 30):
- Maranhão: reported receipt of 40,610 doses of the vaccine; from them, 5,001 valid on April 30th were not applied;
- Large northern river: received 7,000 vaccines; from them, 274 were not applied;
- Bahia: reported having received 170,469 doses; from them, 274 they lose their validity this Tuesday;
- Amazon: received 78,760 doses, of which 14 have lost their validity;
- São Paulo: received 8,310 doses from the batch; all were used.
The states above are part of the group of 154 cities in Acre, Amazonas, Bahia, Goiás, Maranhão, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and São Paulo that received reallocated doses of dengue vaccines. In March, the ministry published a technical note in which it proposed the redistribution of unused vaccines to avoid the loss of material.
To the Power360contrary to what was reported by the secretariats, the Ministry of Health stated that “according to information provided by the States, there are no more doses due on April 30th to be applied”. Asked about the numbers, the agency said that the dose loss record is a “minimum residual quantity”.
On April 18, the agency https://twitter.com/nisia_trindade/status/1780925982880272547 expand the age range of the target audience covered by the dengue vaccine temporarily to avoid the loss of vaccines. People aged 6 to 16 were able to access the remaining doses. Previously, the range was 10 to 14 years old. This age group, proportionally, is the most affected by cases of hospitalization due to the disease.
The government received 1.2 million doses of the dengue vaccine in February and carried out two distributions to 521 Brazilian municipalities selected according to technical criteria, such as incidence of the disease. The Ministry of Health also says it has purchased another 5.2 million doses, with an expiration date of 2025.
METHODOLOGY
O Power360 contacted the health departments of each of the federative units that received reallocated doses to question the number of vaccines received from the 1st batch, as well as the number of applications registered.
To this digital newspaper, the Health Departments of Paraíba, a State that received 37,040 doses of the vaccine, and Goiás (158,505 doses) said that they would not be able to inform the number of remaining doses until the publication of this report. The digital newspaper also contacted the Acre secretariat (17,810 doses), which did not respond to the request.
