Brazil orders 11.5 million yellow fever vaccines

SAO PAULO – Brazil’s Ministry of Health has ordered 11.5 million doses of yellow fever vaccines to reinforce its stockpiles amid the largest outbreak of the disease the country has seen since 2000.

Ministry official Eduardo Hage told a news conference Wednesday that around 5.5 million of those doses have already been sent to five states that have confirmed cases or are at risk.

Seventy cases have been confirmed so far during the summer rainy season. They include 40 deaths.

According to ministry data that’s the biggest outbreak since 2000, when 85 cases were confirmed. Though much of Brazil is considered at risk for yellow fever, it has seen only a handful of cases in each of the past few years.

More than 300 cases are still being investigated.