Brazil is still below the measles vaccination target. According to the Ministry of Health, 47.08% of children received the immunizing agent in 2022, and the target for vaccination coverage is 95%. Protection against measles is provided with the triple viral vaccine, which also immunizes against mumps and rubella, and is part of the vaccination schedule. The immunizing agent is offered at the country’s health units at any time of the year.
The MMR is usually given in two doses. The first, taken at one year of age, and the Monday, with 15 months. The 2022 campaign started in January and runs until December this year. Coverage in 2021 was low, only 50.1% of the target audience in Brazil received the Monday MMR vaccine dose.
One of the consequences of the fall in vaccination is the advancement of the disease. After to have received certification as a measles-free country by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), in 2016, Brazil began to record, in recent years, the spread of the disease throughout the national territory. The Epidemiological Bulletin of the Ministry of Health shows more than 40,000 cases and 40 deaths caused by measles since 2018, more than half in children under 5 years old.
Fiocruz
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) released, this year, a note in which it draws attention to the importance of vaccination against the disease. Fiocruz explains that measles is an acute infectious disease, very contagious and serious, especially in children under 5 years of age, malnourished adults or people with some immunity problem, such as transplanted people, those living with the HIV virus. , or who are undergoing chemotherapy, in addition to pregnant women.
Fiocruz emphasizes that, regardless of this, measles affects individuals of all ages and not necessarily with chronic diseases or any immunity problem.
Ministry of Health
To Agência Brasil, the Ministry of Health said, through a note, that through the National Immunization Program (PNI), it has been developing and intensifying strategies necessary to face the challenges and revert the low vaccination coverage, in partnership with states and municipalities. .
“The Ministry of Health encourages the population to be vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases, and clarifies the benefit and safety of vaccines, through its official communication channels”, says the folder. You detailed data of vaccination coverage are available on the internet.
WHO and UNICEF
At fridayOn this day (15), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) released data that show that the fall in childhood vaccination did not just happen in Brazil. Worldwide, after two years of pandemic, the largest continuous drop in childhood vaccinations in the last 30 years has been recorded.
According to the organizations, even due to the territorial dimension and the size of the population, Brazil is among the ten countries in the world with the largest number of children with delayed vaccination. Considering only the measles vaccine, the country is the 8th with the largest number of children with a delayed vaccination schedule.
