Brazil minister calls on parents to vaccinate children against polio

Brazil´s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga made a radio and TV speech on Sunday night (Oct. 6), urging parents and guardians to vaccinate their children against polio. According to ministry data, during the vaccination campaign in August and September this year, less than 70 percent of the target - children zero to five years - have been vaccinated. The goal is to immunize 95 percent of children in this age group nationwide.

"I call on parents, grandparents, and guardians. Vaccinate your children against polio. We cannot deny this right to the future of our country. We cannot accept that anyone, especially our children, gets sick and dies from diseases for which vaccines have existed for so long," he stated.

Polio - also known as infantile paralysis - is an acute contagious disease caused by a virus that lives in the intestine - the poliovirus, which can infect children and adults through direct contact with feces and secretions eliminated from the mouth of patients. In severe cases, in which muscle paralysis occurs, lower limbs are the most affected ones.

"For 32 years the Americas region has been considered polio-free, but unfortunately vaccination coverage is falling in the world, as well as in Brazil," Queiroga said in his statement. According to him, the low vaccination rate against the disease has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Ministry of Health is committed to keeping Brazil free of polio," he stressed.

The minister also said during the 30th Health Conference of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), which took place in September in the United States, Brazil reinforces the need for American countries to mobilize and eradicate the disease.