Since 2009, researchers at Brazil’s Butantan Institute have been studying the production of a new dengue vaccine. The inoculation is currently in its final phase of clinical trials.
The test uses a protein developed in the laboratory. This new technology proved to superior to the conventional test recommended by WHO, which only identifies antibodies when the infection is advanced.
A technical note published by Oxfam Brasil stresses the need to gear up for new disease outbreaks. “While China has more than a thousand factories producing IFA24, in Brazil this number comes near 15,” the document reads.
The Butantan Institute and Fiocruz supply most of Brazil’s jabs, serums, and other immunobiologicals under the National Immunization Program (PNI)—which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. That is one of the reasons mentioned by specialists explaining the program’s success.
São Paulo’s Butantan Institute is exporting doses of the trivalent shot to Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Uruguay. The 5.4 million doses started being delivered late in March.
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