“`html

Brazil Approves First Single-Dose​ Dengue‌ Vaccine: Butantan-DV

Butantan-DV, developed in Brazil and approved for people over 12 ⁤years of ⁢age, ‌promises to be a game-changer in the fight against the disease, especially‌ for⁤ populations with arduous access in the Amazon.

On ​November⁤ 26, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved the first single-dose vaccine against the four serotypes of the dengue virus. Developed by​ the Butantan Institute,‍ Butantan-DV should⁣ be⁤ incorporated into the National Immunization Program‌ early next year, with more than one million doses ⁤ready for distribution. ⁤The news comes in a context of health⁢ urgency,after Brazil recorded its worst year of the disease epidemic in 2024,with 6.4 million⁢ cases ⁢and close to six thousand deaths.

for ​Esper Kallas, director of Butantan, the vaccine represents a “powerful weapon” against the ‌arbovirus⁣ that has haunted the‌ country for decades.⁣ The overall efficacy ⁣of ⁤the product, determined in‌ phase III clinical trials with 16 ​thousand volunteers, was established at 74.7%. Against ⁤the most⁤ serious forms of ‍the disease, protection reached 91.6%. Still unpublished ​data, which ⁣will be published in Nature​ Medicine, indicate 100% effectiveness in preventing ⁣hospitalizations.

The simplified logistics of a single⁤ dose ⁤are highlighted by⁣ experts⁤ as a crucial advance for ​the Brazilian reality. “It is indeed much more difficult and⁣ expensive to apply a two-dose vaccine in remote and ​difficult-to-access regions,⁢ such as the Amazon, crossed⁤ by rivers and with land connections⁢ that are still very precarious”, observes epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation⁢ (Fiocruz). With Butantan-DV,indigenous and riverside communities will be able​ to receive the complete vaccination schedule in a single visit from health ​teams,eliminating repeated trips to distant locations.

The vaccine is an​ attenuated type, composed of the four live but ⁤weakened dengue‌ viruses, and can be administered to people⁢ with⁣ or without a previous history of the infection. A characteristic that differentiates it, according to virologist Maurício Nogueira, from the Faculty of Medicine​ of São José do Rio⁢ Preto, from the other two vaccines approved in the ‍country: ⁢Dengvaxia,‌ from ⁢the Sanofi⁤ Pasteur‍ laboratory, restricted to ‌those who have already had the disease, and⁢ Qdenga (TAK-003), from ‌Takeda, which requires two doses three months apart. “Many