The study to verify the effectiveness of the vaccine against dengue in the adult population began this Friday (16), in Barra de Guaratiba, west of the city. The partnership between the Municipal Health Department (SMS) of Rio de Janeiro with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and the Ministry of Health will help in the decision on the future national incorporation of the immunizer for other age groups. The vaccine used is Qdenga, manufactured by the Japanese laboratory Takeda.
According to SMS, pioneering research in the Unified Health System (SUS) is strategic for combating dengue and is fundamental to science. In total, 20,000 people aged 18 to 40 in the Guaratiba region and who are actively registered in one of the 10 Primary Care units in the region must be vaccinated. The age range is a reference for up to January 25, 2024. Participation is voluntary and the person will be monitored for two years, which is the duration of the study.
The Guaratiba region was chosen because it recorded a higher incidence of the disease in 2023 and 2024. Furthermore, it is a population with non-migratory characteristics and with 100% family health coverage.
“For two years we will monitor these people and the rest of the population of Guaratiba to check who had dengue or not and whether this vaccine was effective in our population”, explained the municipal secretary of Health, Daniel Soranz, at the start of the ceremony. study.
According to the ministry, the Guaratiba region has around 67 thousand residents of this age group who are registered in Primary Care. “As the research will work with 20 thousand people, the month of birth was adopted as the criterion for defining participants. A draw was held and the months of May, August, October and November were selected. Thus, residents of the Guaratiba region (neighborhoods of Guaratiba, Barra de Guaratiba, Pedra de Guaratiba and Ilha de Guaratiba) aged between 18 and 40 years old and born in the four drawn months are eligible to participate in the research”, informed the secretariat.
The list with the initials and the first five digits of the CPF of the volunteers invited is available on health websites. Health agents will invite participants via WhatsApp, telephone call or in person. Following the published list, participants can also look for the reference health unit.
Contraindications
According to the SMS, breastfeeding women, pregnant women, people with immunosuppression, who have previously been vaccinated against dengue, who have had the disease in the last six months, who have received any blood products in the last three months or who have presented any hypersensitivity reaction to any of the components of the vaccine.
“People with fever or who have received another live virus vaccine in the last four weeks will have their inclusion in the study postponed”, added the secretariat.
The vaccination will be administered in a staggered manner. The first to be served are eligible users registered at the Mourão Filho Municipal Health Center, in the Barra de Guaratiba neighborhood.
In the first stage, participants must appear at the health unit on dates determined in the schedule to be published. On that day, blood will be collected to measure antibodies. “A serology of this blood is carried out to check whether she has had dengue fever type 1, type 2, 3 or 4 and also whether she has had Zika in the past. From the blood collection we do [aplica] the first dose of the vaccine and after three months the second dose”, said the secretary.
Soranz highlighted that the vaccine is already recognized by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), has been tested and has proven its effectiveness. Now, as he explained, the study will quantify this effectiveness and observe how this vaccine will behave in the characteristics of the Brazilian population. “These studies are important whenever a new vaccine is introduced,” he noted.
Scientific evidence
The secretary recalled that in 2021, the partnership between SMS, Fiocruz and the Ministry of Health carried out similar research on Paquetá Island and in the group of Maré favelas with the vaccine against Covid-19. “Thanks to the evidence we gathered, we were able to collaborate in making important decisions about the introduction of booster doses,” he concluded.
Alongside Soranz, the national secretary of Health and Environment Surveillance at the Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel, stated that for the ministry the study represents a very important advance because the department is following the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) of the immunizer for a range of 6 to 16 years old, despite Anvisa's approval being for an audience aged 4 to 59 years old.
In the secretary's view, the study will also contribute to WHO decisions to expand the age range recommended for the vaccine.
“The scientific evidence that will be generated here in Brazil will also be able to help decision-making on a global, international level. This is an age group where we have the highest number of cases in Brazil. The largest number of cases not only in Rio de Janeiro, but in Brazil, has been concentrated in the 20 to 40 age group, so it is very important that we better understand how this vaccine works in this age group. By vaccinating a large population, we will have a better idea of how this vaccine protects a larger audience. This adds information so that we can make decisions and expand our age range,” he said.
“It’s not the only study we’re [Ministério da Saúde] supporting in Brazil. We have the Dourados study, we also have the Fiocruz Bahia study, which will monitor the effectiveness of vaccine data in Brazil, so we are supporting several studies, but we consider this to be a very important part because it will cover this age group of greater number of cases”, he concluded.
The director of the National Immunization Program of the Ministry of Health (PNI), Eder Gatti, also present, highlighted that Brazil was ahead in including the immunizer in the public health strategy. “It is important to highlight that Brazil is the first country in the world to use this vaccine, this technology, in a public health strategy. The whole world is looking at what we are doing,” he said.
Ethel Maciel added that demand greater than production capacity is an obstacle to expanding the application of doses that are not sufficient for Brazil's needs. To try to overcome this problem, the secretary informed that Fiocruz is in agreement with the Japanese laboratory Takeda so that, through technology transfer, it can produce the immunizer in Brazil.
Qdenga
Qdenga was approved by the National Commission for Technology Incorporation (Conitec), of the Ministry of Health, and incorporated into the Unified Health System (SUS). The immunizer is made from a live, attenuated virus and interacts with the immune system. In this way, it provokes a response similar to that generated by natural infection. The immunizer provides protection against the four existing subtypes of the dengue virus: DENV1, DENV2, DENV3 and DENV4.
Source: CNN Brasil
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