The city of Dourados in Brazil's Mato Grosso del Sul state yesterday became the country's first to launch a mass dengue vaccination campaign.

In a prefecture statement today, officials said 537 doses were given on the first day of the campaign, which was developed by the municipal health department in a partnership with Takeda, which produces the Qdenga vaccine.
Targeting 150,000 people between ages 4 and 59 years old, the dengue vaccine will be administered in two doses, 3 months apart.
Prefecture health secretary Waldno Lucena, MD, said, "Dourados has been an example for the entire country, vaccination strengthens individual defenses and also contributes to building a collective barrier against the spread of dengue."
Newly approved vaccine
Brazilian drug regulators approved the Takeda vaccine in March 2023. The live attenuated vaccine, given subcutaneously, is built on a serotype 2 backbone and targets all four dengue serotypes.
The Americas region experienced record dengue activity in 2023, with Brazil the hardest-hit country, with more than 2.9 million cases. The World Health Organization last month noted a marked rise in dengue activity over the past two decades and warned that multiple factors could fuel further rises, including vector distribution changes, climate change, El Nino weather pattern consequences, and fragile healthcare systems.