Starting this Monday (4), the Ministry of Health will replace the two booster doses with oral polio vaccine (OPV) known as “droplet “, by one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (VIP) which is injectable. The change in the vaccination schedule against the disease was announced in September by the ministry.
According to the Ministrythe decision was based on epidemiological criteria, scientific evidence about the vaccine and international recommendations to make the vaccination schedule even safer.
Previously, the vaccination schedule included the administration of three doses of VIP at 2, 4 and 6 months and two booster doses with VOP, at 15 months and 4 years of age.
Now, with the droplet no longer being used, it will be necessary just a booster dose with VIP at 15 months of age, so the new vaccination schedule will be:
- 2 months – 1st dose
- 4 months – 2nd dose
- 6 months – 3rd dose
- 15 months – booster dose
Does the change bring benefits? See what the expert says
VOP, or droplet, is a vaccine made with the weakened virus and is administered orally. The VIP vaccine contains the inactivated (dead) virus, administered intramuscularly.
“When I replace the oral vaccine, I am removing [do esquema] a live virus vaccine. This type of vaccine has some restrictions, especially for children with changes in immunity, who may have problems when taking live virus vaccines”, explains Alfredo Gilio, Coordinator of the Immunization Clinic at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, to CNN .
According to the expert, replacing the droplet with the injectable vaccine will bring benefits to people with compromised immune systems, in addition to avoiding the risk of contamination by a “vaccine variant” of the virus.
“When we use the live virus oral vaccine, it is excreted in the feces. In a country like Brazil, with low sanitation rates, this virus can be spread in the community”, he adds. “The live virus in the environment poses the risk of transforming and forming the vaccine-derived poliovirus, which can be pathogenic. There is even a description of this in other countries. But, in Brazil, it is still a theoretical risk”, he states.
End of “Zé Gotinha”? Understand what will happen to the character
Created in the 1980s, Zé Gotinha is a character who marks the fight against polio and is present in the imagination of a large part of the Brazilian population. According to the Ministry of Health, even with the end of the application of the oral vaccine, the character will continue to exist.
“The character also took to the field to warn about the prevention of other vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles. Therefore, he continues working towards immunization”, states a statement released by the department in September.
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This content was originally published in Fim da gotinha: injectable vaccine replaces the oral vaccine for polio on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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