Vaccination against dengue in SC will include new cities; check the distribution of doses

More cities in Santa Catarina will receive doses of the dengue vaccine this month. The arrival of the new shipment of vaccines was informed by the Ministry of Health, through a technical note. The Greater Florianópolis region will benefit from the expansion of vaccination, which continues in the same age group.

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Until then, vaccination against dengue in Santa Catarina was only taking place in the Northeast of the State, due to the high number of cases and deaths in the region. Now, the campaign will be extended to 19 municipalities in Greater Florianópolis. The date on which the vaccines arrive in the cities has not been announced.

The target audience for vaccination currently remains the same: children and adolescents between 10 and 14 years of age. According to the decision, the objective of the expansion is to accelerate the application of doses and increase access to vaccination.

The criteria for selecting municipalities, according to the Operational Technical Report of the Dengue Vaccination Strategy in 2024 from the Ministry of Health, was “large municipalities (population greater than or equal to 100 thousand inhabitants) with high dengue transmission in last 10 years, including the other municipalities in their coverage health regions, regardless of population size, ordered by the predominance of the DENV-2 serotype (recent reemergence) and the highest number of cases in the 2023/2024 monitoring (SE-27/2023 to SE-02/2024)”.

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The survey carried out by the Santa Catarina Epidemiological Surveillance Directorate (DIVE) shows that as of Monday (1st), 17,724 children and adolescents had been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, which represents 24.8% of vaccination coverage. The Ministry of Health’s goal is to vaccinate at least 90% of the total public.

Vaccination plays an important role, but it is not the only strategy for containing the spread of the disease. The director of Dive, João Augusto Brancher Fuck, reinforces the necessary care.

— Our appeal continues to be for the entire population to inspect their backyard, school, workplace and remove any object that could accumulate water — declares the director.

Vaccines began to be administered on February 24th in Joinville, and between February 26th and 27th in other municipalities in the Northeast region. A single shipment of vaccines has so far been received in Santa Catarina, in February, with 29,100 doses.

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To complete the vaccination schedule, you must take two doses, three months apart. The objective of the immunization campaign is to reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to the disease. Vaccination times and locations must be consulted directly with the municipalities’ Health Department.