Government pivots after dengue vaccine controversy

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday called the former Jair Bolsonaro administration “genocidal” for its handling of the pandemic. Among the many moves that contradicted scientific consensus, Mr. Bolsonaro was particularly scolded for shunning Covid vaccines, with his administration ignoring offers from Pfizer to supply immunizers for months.

But when a report suggested that the Lula administration was snubbing a private vaccine against dengue viruses, it was the current president who found himself on the receiving end of vaccine-related ire.

On Monday, newspaper O Globo published a story quoting Carlos Gadelha, the deputy minister for health products. Mr. Gadelha said the ministry plans to give priority to Brazilian-developed dengue vaccines over a Japanese vaccine that has already obtained regulatory approval.

His remarks were particularly poorly received as Brazil has observed alarming dengue figures in recent years. Health Ministry data shows that the country recorded over 1.4 million probable dengue cases in 2022, with over 1,000 confirmed deaths — over three times as many as in the year prior. 

Several Brazilians on social media compared Mr. Gadelha’s remarks to the posture of the former Jair Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022) in purposefully delaying the purchase of Covid vaccines.

The Butantan Institute, which is owned by the São Paulo state government, has been conducting clinical trials for dengue vaccines since 2010. It expects to clear the last phase of the research in 2024 — a requirement to submit an authorization request to federal health regulator Anvisa. 

Back in March, Anvisa approved the Qdenga vaccine, manufactured by Takeda Pharma, but it is up to the government whether or not to purchase and distribute the immunizers as a policy.

Qdenga is the second dengue vaccine approved in Brazil. 

Dengvaxia, an immunizer developed by the French group...