Brazil launches campaign to resume high rates of vaccination
Brazil’s Ministry of Health launched on Monday (Feb. 27) the National Movement for Vaccination, a campaign whose main objective is to resume high rates of vaccination coverage in Brazil, which have been in decline for six years.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Health Minister Nísia Trindade, Vice President and Minister of Industry and Commerce Geraldo Alckmin, First Lady Janja da Silva, and acting governor of the Federal District Celina Leão participated in the event at a Basic Health Unit (UBS), in Brasília.
Since 2016, the vaccination coverage of different immunizers is well below 95 percent, which is the rate recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to data from the Ministry of Health, the vaccination coverage of the Brazilian population stood at 66.06 percent last year.
In 2021, the year that registered the highest mortality from the COVID -19 pandemic, this indicator did not exceed 61 percent. In previous years, it was below 80 percent. Last time Brazil recorded a satisfactory vaccination rate was in 2015, when about 95 percent of the target public was vaccinated.
"We have to keep in mind that Brazil was once the world champion country regarding vaccination. It was the most respected [country] in the world for the capacity of our male and female nurses dealing with shots," Lula said during his speech at the event. The president called on the population to update their vaccination cycle.
Fifth shot
Lula took the opportunity to get his fifth COVID -19 shot and even showed his updated immunization card. He received the vaccine from Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who is a doctor.
Campaign
In the first stage of the campaign, vaccination will be reinforced with bivalent COVID-19 doses in people at higher risk of developing severe forms of the disease. To take the bivalent vaccine, which prevents against most dangerous variants of the virus, it is necessary to have completed the vaccination cycle of four doses, respecting a four-month interval since the last one received, the Ministry of Health informed.
