President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) was vaccinated against dengue fever on February 5, without publicity and before the Unified Health System, the SUS, began its public immunization campaign. The information is from the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
According to the Planalto Palace, the dose was provided to Lula by the private network, but the government refused to inform the model and cost of the vaccine, as well as the name of the laboratory.
The SUS campaign against dengue fever began 4 days after the PT member received his first dose against dengue fever. The shortage of vaccines in the SUS made the Lula government the target of criticism and forced the Ministry of Health to limit vaccination to the 10 to 14 year old group.
Lula received the 2nd dose of the dengue vaccine on May 6, also without disclosure.
Since taking office for his third term as president, Lula has been vaccinated in public against the flu and Covid to encourage immunization campaigns.
When questioned by Folha, the Presidency’s Social Communication Secretariat (Secom) did not explain why Lula’s dengue vaccination in the private sector was not disclosed. In addition to omitting the vaccine model, the government also did not inform where Lula was immunized.
The dates of the vaccine application were revealed by the Presidency after a request from Folha, based on the Access to Information Law (LAI). Folha also requested data on Lula’s immunization against Covid-19.
In its first response, the federal government reported that Lula “received all doses of vaccines compatible with his age and already made available by the Ministry of Health, relating to Covid-19 and dengue, as instructed by his medical team”.
After an appeal, the Lula government provided the dates and locations of immunization, as well as the model of each dose used by the president against Covid-19. There were 7 applications, the last one being carried out on June 17th with the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Moderna, adapted for the XBB variant and acquired late by the Ministry of Health.
In the 2nd response, the Federal Government informed the dates on which Lula was vaccinated against dengue, but did not specify the location of the application or the model of vaccine used.
Folha requested this data again in an appeal filed on Monday (17). Secom confirmed, in a note, only that the dengue vaccine was obtained by Lula from the private network.
The doses purchased by the Ministry of Health were still undergoing quality control analysis when Lula was vaccinated against dengue fever. The vaccines were released on February 8 and the first applications took place the following day by the SUS.
Between February and March, private clinics ran out of supplies. Takeda, the manufacturer of the Qdenga vaccine, sold its entire production to the SUS. Considering the three-month interval between doses of the vaccine, it is likely that Lula received Qdenga.
The other dengue vaccine registered in Brazil, Dengvaxia, has not been incorporated into the public system and requires a three-dose regimen with six-month intervals between doses. Produced by Sanofi, Dengvaxia is only indicated for people aged 6 to 45 who have already been infected with dengue.
The leaflets for both vaccines available in the country do not include people aged 78, like President Lula, in the target audience. In this case, the use is considered “off-label”, that is, outside the indications for the product’s registration with Anvisa and under medical prescription.
