Brazil suspends its dengue vaccine as a precaution after two deaths

Brazil temporarily suspended the dengue vaccination campaign it began in January, after detecting two deaths and several cases of serious adverse reactions. The vaccine, the world's first single-dose shot, was developed by the Butantan Institute in S o Paulo and had already been given to half a million people through the public health system. Health authorities stressed that there is not yet enough data to link the deaths to the product and that the interruption is a preventive measure.

In recent months, nearly 4,000 cases were recorded of people with dengue-like symptoms after immunization, something that fell within expectations. The alarm arose from 42 more extreme episodes, with intense abdominal pain, persistent vomiting and bleeding, among them the death of a 48-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man. In all, 501,044 people were vaccinated —mostly health workers in priority regions— and the Health Ministry specified that adverse cases represent 0.0008% of those immunized.

We are ordering the temporary interruption based on pharmacovigilance data, said Health Minister Alexandre Padilha, who clarified that the decision was not a response to the disinformation circulating on social media. The director of the National Immunization Program, Eder Gatti, said the pause would serve to investigate the cases and does not invalidate the vaccine's efficacy. There is no set timeline; in the meantime, doses must be kept refrigerated, and the campaign could resume.