Brazil Approves World’s First Single-Dose Dengue Vaccine, Researchers Hail 'Powerful Weapon'

Brazilian authorities approved the world’s first single-dose dengue vaccine on Wednesday, which they hailed as a “historic” achievement as cases of the mosquito-borne disease soar globally due to rising temperatures.

Dengue, marked by severe flu-like symptoms, debilitating fatigue and body aches, surged to record global levels in 2024, with researchers attributing its rapid spread to climate change.

Brazil’s health regulatory agency ANVISA authorised the use of Butantan-DV, developed by the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, for people aged 12 to 59.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), currently, TAK-003 is the only dengue vaccine available worldwide, which requires two doses administered three months apart.

Developed after eight years

of clinical trials across Brazil, the single-dose vaccine is expected to enable faster and more streamlined vaccination campaigns.

“This is a historic achievement for science and health in Brazil,” Esper Kallas, director of the Butantan Institute, a public research center, told a press conference in Sao Paulo.

“A disease that has plagued us for decades can now be fought with a very powerful weapon,” he added.

The new vaccine demonstrated 91.6 per cent efficacy against severe dengue in clinical trials involving over 16,000 volunteers.

Dengue’s unpleasant symptoms have earned it the nickname “breakbone fever.” It can provoke hemorrhagic fever in severe cases, and death.

It is spread by infected Aedes mosquitoes, which have expanded beyond their traditional habitats, resulting in dengue cases in parts of Europe and the United States where the disease was previously uncommon.

In 2024, the WHO reported more than 14.6 million cases and almost 12,000 deaths globally, the highest number ever recorded.

Half of these deaths took place in Brazil.

Researchers from Stanford University in the United States published a 2024 study estimating that global warming accounted for 19 per cent of dengue cases that year.

Brazil has reached an agreement with the Chinese company WuXi Biologics to deliver approximately 30 million doses of the vaccine in the second half of 2026, Health Minister Alexandre Padilha told the press conference.

(With inputs from AFP)