efficacy<\/a> and 91.6 per cent efficacy against more severe forms of the disease, according to the Butantan Institute, the public research centre that developed the vaccine.<\/p>\nThe vaccine will be incorporated into Brazil\u2019s national immunisation programme in early 2026, with more than 1 million doses ready to be distributed, the Institute said.<\/p>\n
Butantan\u2019s director, Esper Kallas called it a \u201cpowerful weapon\u201d against the mosquito-borne disease that has plagued Brazil for decades.<\/p>\n
Disease specialists say the one-dose vaccine will make it easier for remote communities to access. The only globally available vaccine, TAK-003 or Qdenga, requires two doses administered three months apart.<\/p>\n
Indigenous communities will no longer have to make repeated trips to health clinics and can be fully vaccinated in one community health visit, says epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, from Brazil\u2019s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading public health research institution.<\/p>\n
Orellana, who was not involved in developing the new vaccine, told\u00a0SciDev.Net: \u201cIt is much more difficult and expensive to apply a two-dose vaccine in remote and hard-to-reach regions, such as the Amazon, crossed by rivers and with still very precarious land connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
60 million doses<\/p>\n
Butantan has partnered with Chinese company WuXi Vaccines to manufacture 60 million doses over the next two years. Around half of that is expected to be delivered before the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
The vaccination strategy and priority groups will be defined in the coming weeks by specialists from the National Immunization Program.<\/p>\n
The new vaccine is not yet authorised for pregnant women, immunocompromised people, or older adults. Evidence of its efficacy in these populations is being analysed by Brazil\u2019s health regulatory agency, Anvisa.<\/p>\n
Renato Kfouri, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations, told\u00a0SciDev.Net:\u00a0\u201cWith this, Brazil becomes a strategic player in the international production of vaccines, and will soon be able to supply other Latin American countries also affected by the disease, such as Argentina, Peru and Colombia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Globally, more than 14 million dengue cases were reported in 2024, according to the World Health Organization. Of these,\u00a012.6 million\u00a0were in Latin America where more than 8,000 people died.<\/p>\n
The Butantan Institute confirmed to\u00a0SciDev.Net\u00a0that it will be able to offer the new vaccine to other countries in the region, without elaborating on the timescale.<\/p>\n
Fernanda Boulos, Butantan\u2019s chief scientific officer, said the priority was supplying Brazil\u2019s public health system, through the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n
Decade of research<\/p>\n
Butantan-DV is a live, attenuated vaccine which uses weakened viruses to generate immunity without causing the disease. It was evaluated for nearly a decade in trials involving 16,000 volunteers from across Brazil.<\/p>\n
Previous results, after two and 3.7 years of follow-up, were published in\u00a0The New England Journal of Medicine\u00a0and\u00a0The Lancet Infectious Diseases.<\/p>\n
The most recent data indicates that the vaccine achieved 100 per cent efficacy against hospitalisations.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Butantan said these results would be published soon in the journal\u00a0Nature Medicine.<\/p>\n
Extended protection<\/p>\n
Composed of the four serotypes of the dengue virus, Butantan-DV can be given to both people who have already had the infection and those who have never been exposed to it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0According to physician and virologist Maur\u00edcio Nogueira, from the Faculty of Medicine of S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 do Rio Preto, in S\u00e3o Paulo, this sets it apart from the other two dengue vaccines approved by Anvisa:\u00a0Dengvaxia, from French vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur and Qdenga, from Japanese pharmaceutical company\u00a0Takeda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first vaccine could only be administered to people who had already had dengue, which prevented its integration into the public\u00a0health\u00a0system,\u201d Nogueira told\u00a0SciDev.Net.<\/p>\n
Takeda\u2019s vaccine is suitable for people who have already had dengue, but its two-dose format makes adherence more difficult, says Nogueira.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people who receive the first dose don\u2019t return for the second and end up only partially protected,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth doses are essential to ensure complete protection against the pathogen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mosquito control<\/p>\n
Disease specialists warn, however, that the vaccine alone will not eradicate the disease and stress the continued need for other control measures.<\/p>\n
Climate change and urbanisation have produced increasingly favourable conditions for the\u00a0Aedes aegypti\u00a0mosquito, the main disease vector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vaccine is important, but it doesn\u2019t mean we should neglect mosquito control,\u201d said Orellana, citing the risk of other mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya\u00a0and yellow fever.<\/p>\n
\u201cControl remains essential, surveillance is fundamental, and it is necessary to invest in measures that reduce the vector\u2019s reproductive capacity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
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