In an interview with CNN, researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) Raphael Guimarães highlighted the importance of vaccination against Covid-19 at the end of the year and the beginning of the immunization of children.
Guimarães stated that it is still important not to crowd, and recommended that Christmas and New Year meetings only be held in small groups, with people who have been vaccinated.
“We have been trying to support the idea that the best gift we can give our family at the end of the year is the vaccine”, he added.
Raphael is one of the authors of a study released this Tuesday (21) on the need for vaccination of children. As he said, just by immunizing the age group from zero to 11 years, which represents 15% of the population, it will be possible to surpass the mark of 85% of people fully protected against Covid, which is an “optimistic, but not ideal” number. .
In addition, Guimarães explained that children still do not have a fully developed immune system, being more vulnerable to high virus loads. Thus, they are also an important transmission vector of respiratory diseases, hence the even greater need for vaccination.
He also highlighted the need for public policies to bring the vaccine to more people. According to Guimarães, the biggest obstacle to immunization is access to health.
“We know that the logistics that comprise the National Immunization Plan (PNI) depends on the tip, that is, on the municipal and local level, but we need federal coordination so that we can organize the territory and the distributive policy in order to reduce inequality [no acesso às vacinas]”, he stated.
Among the possible actions that Raphael raised are increasing the number of mobile vaccination posts and extending the opening hours of health posts, as, according to the researcher, many people are unable to reach these places during the time of application of the immunization agents.
Reference: CNN Brasil
