Over 8,000 health professionals will actively search for children who do not have an updated vaccination schedule | Rio de Janeiro

Patricia Pereira took her 4-year-old son Lucas to get vaccinated against polioZia Agency / Clipper Mendes

Posted on 10/15/2022 17:46

RIO – Starting Monday (17), City Hall will mobilize more than 8,000 health professionals to conduct active research on children who have not been vaccinated against polio and other diseases. In an interview with dayThe municipal health minister, Daniel Sorans, explained that in all, 1,254 family health teams will check lists of registered children, who, who have not been vaccinated, will receive a visit from a community health agent to be vaccinated. In Rio, only 51% of the target audience has been vaccinated against polio.

According to Sorans, 160,000 children are at risk of contracting polio in the municipality because they have not been vaccinated. He also states that the most dangerous situation is the western region, where there are the largest number of unvaccinated children.

“City Hall invites all two-month-olds to a health unit, family clinic or local health center to update their vaccination booklet and check if the polio vaccine is missing as well as all other vaccinations on the calendar,” he said.

In Brazil, polio – which has the largest vaccination coverage in the city – was eradicated more than 30 years ago. The minister warned that with reduced adherence, the disease could spread again in Rio. According to him, 260 health units are already ready to carry out vaccination at the main points of the city.

Sorans thinks low adherence to vaccination may be due to the influence of some anti-vaccine movements or because parents don’t care about the campaign’s press calls – but he maintains it’s safe and necessary. “It’s an act of individual protection, but it’s also collective protection for the whole community. The vaccine is safe, easy to apply and can be done in any basic health unit in Rio de Janeiro. Now what we need is for parents or guardians to take their children to vaccinate as quickly as possible,” he noted. Available time “.

According to the epidemiological observatory of the city of Rio de Janeiro, BCG, rotavirus, yellow fever, hepatitis A, Meningo C, 10 pneumonia, polio, tetra/pentavalent, trivalent, and chickenpox vaccines have not reached the vaccination coverage target. .

Kariokas joins the campaign to vaccinate children this Saturday

On Saturday (15), parents and guardians joined the vaccination campaign and took their children to receive vaccinations against diseases such as polio, COVID-19 and pentavalent, at a health center in Tijuca, northern region of Rio.

Patricia Pereira took her 4-year-old son Lucas to be vaccinated against polio and reinforced the importance of immunization in preventing disease. “Although some have been eradicated, we need to recognize the role that each of us, parents and guardians, plays in controlling these diseases so that they do not return,” he explained.

Isabel Lima, 4, was accompanied by her mother, Joanna Lima, to receive the pentavalent, meningococcal and polio vaccine. Joanna said, “Vaccination is a matter of health and prevention. It has always been an element that has not been questioned even since the baby was handed to us with the brochure. For us, vaccination is unquestionable and essential,” Joanna said.

“I always kept my vaccination schedule up to date,” said Juliana Amaral, who took her 3-year-old son Samuel to take the second polio and polio dose.

Meningitis cases in Rio through September exceeded the number recorded for the whole of last year

Despite the increase, the SES said the variance in cases does not indicate an outbreak in the state, but does reinforce the importance of parents of children and teens getting their children vaccinated. The volume states that there are three immunization agents available to prevent meningitis in public health centres.