The report State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Immunizationfrom the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), officially released this Thursday (20)recommends actions to the federal government so that Brazil can resume vaccination coverage and increase Brazilians’ confidence in immunizations.
The document was released in Brasilia, at an event at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The report shows, in the part about Brazil, that around 1.6 million children have not received any dose of DTP vaccinewhich prevents diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, between 2019 and 2021. To change this scenario, the Unicef representative in Brazil, Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, Brazil, listed four recommendations:
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- Carrying out an active search for unvaccinated children or those whose vaccination schedule is overdue;
- Strengthening of SUS, with investment and appreciation of health professionals, mostly women;
- Prioritization of funding for immunization and primary health care services that focus on childhood;
- Expansion of communication campaigns aimed at families with children.
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The Unicef representative warned that the report shows that the perception of the importance of vaccines in Brazil has diminished. Before the pandemic, 99.1% of Brazilians trusted childhood vaccines and, in the post-covid-19 period, the index dropped to 88.8%.
For Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, however, it is possible to change this situation. “The Brazilian population is one of those who trust vaccines the most, but this trust has fallen during the pandemic and needs to be resumed”.
He even remembered the history of Brazil, in previous decades. “The country has always been an example in the National Immunization Program, the PNI, and has one of the largest health systems in the world, the Unified Health System, the SUS, which needs to be valued and strengthened”, he defended.
Brazilian government actions
Present at the meeting, the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, reinforced that the new management of the portfolio is coordinating the National Movement for Vaccination to increase vaccination coverage, together with states and municipalities. “We will visit some municipalities and we are working to strengthen the active search, guiding the municipalities so that, through the (Family Health) teams, community health agents and surveillance agents, they can carry out this active search and see where the children are. unvaccinated.”