Health centers made joint efforts on Saturday (16) to vaccinate children and adolescents. The procedure is part of a campaign that will continue until the end of the month to update the vaccination booklet. States and municipalities are also adopting different strategies to increase the number of vaccinators.
Dirt road, lots of dust, potholes. sHealth professionals from Jaboatão dos Guararapes, in the urban area of Recife, travel through rural areas in search of children and adolescents who did not go to the health center to get their vaccinations.
“These are the people who need, who need this healthcare, and we try to take everything we can for these people,” nurse Krislyn Gomez says.
The more remote and isolated the location, the higher the chances of finding children and teens without having all of their age-appropriate vaccinations.. Lack of transportation is a reality in these places.
Six children. All of them were part of the target audience for the multiple vaccination campaign, and none of them were familiar with the vaccines. From the oldest, Michael, 14, to the youngest, Naiane, 3, they were all vaccinated. Miguel, 5, was the record holder: he took 4 vaccinations.
“I knew I was late, but there was no way I could go. Because of the difficulties in getting the position. “Because you have to rent a motorbike to go there, and because everything is difficult, it was also difficult to get there,” explained the housewife, Adeline Ferreira da Silva.
To increase the number of people vaccinated against measles, agents go from house to house in 16 municipalities of Amapá. Work began even before the Ministry of Health campaign, due to the outbreak of the disease that has hit the country.
“I thought it was very important, because the outbreak is big. I immunize myself, immunize my son, and feel calm‘ says saleswoman Elaine Santos.
The drop in immunization has led to a state of alert across the country. While the ideal situation is to vaccinate more than 90% of the population, rates are between 60% and 80%. Therefore, the centers opened on Saturday to offset the vaccination for those under the age of 15. There were 15 vaccines for children and seven vaccines for adolescents.
The most worrying thing in Belo Horizonte is polio40% of four-year-olds are not protected. In Recife, 150 rooms served as vaccination centers.
“These coverages are declining with the pandemic. So, at this time, we need to update the vaccination brochure, seize the opportunity, because these children and adolescents go back to school, so that we do not have to re-introduce viruses like polio, measles and rubella,” notes the supervisor of immunization in Pernambuco, Ana Catarina Mello.
