Less than 25% of Brazilian children have been vaccinated against influenza. | health

Less than a quarter of Brazilian children have been vaccinated against influenza, according to the Ministry of Health. The volume reported that so far only 24.56% of children between the ages of 6 months and 12 years have had the vaccine in the country.

The vaccination campaign started more than a month ago, on the 10th of April. According to the Coordinator of Health Surveillance in São Paulo, Luiz Artur Caldera, many parents do not see that the disease can be serious.

“It is a serious illness that can lead to respiratory failure, need for hospitalization, and death,” he says.

Primary healthcare units across the country are open on Saturday (20th) so that parents and guardians can take their children for vaccinations. In Manaus, 229 vaccine delivery points are open.

The number of children hospitalized for respiratory syndromes has increased. The latest Fiocruz InfoGripe Bulletin indicated dumping in 13 states: Amazonas, Alagoas, Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Pará, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Rondônia and Sergipe.

More than 20% of cases are caused by the influenza virus, which is exactly what the vaccine protects against.

“In children ages 5 to 14, for example, we already have, in respiratory infections, about 50% of the cases where we identified the virus associated with this hospitalization, it was an influenza virus. Either influenza A or influenza B,” he says. says Marcelo Gomez, coordinator of the InfoGripe Bulletin, of Fiocruz.

“These two subtypes of influenza virus are covered in the vaccination. That’s why it’s so important.”

Those responsible for children should be aware of the recommendations of the Ministry of Health.

For those children between the ages of 6 months and less than 9 years who receive the influenza vaccine for the first time in their lives, the immunization should be administered in two doses, at an interval of 30 days. And this is another point of concern for the authorities: Of the 700,000 children who took the first dose, less than 100,000 returned for the second dose, which is only 13%.

“Our influenza vaccine is completely safe. It’s been over-tested to be highly effective specifically for preventing exacerbations, serious condition, hospitalization, and death,” says Gomez.