The national flu vaccination campaign starts on April 4th. The information was announced by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday (15).
80 million doses of the influenza vaccine will be distributed, covering about 76.5 million people who are part of the groups considered priority. The campaign must be carried out until the 3rd of June. D-day of national mobilization is scheduled for April 30th.
The campaign will take place in two stages, the first being aimed at seniors aged 60 and over and health professionals, between April 4 and May 2.
In the second stage, between May 3 and June 3, the other priority groups will be immunized, including:
- Children from 6 months to under 5 years old (4 years, 11 months and 29 days)
- Pregnant women and puerperal women
- Indian people
- teachers
- People with comorbidities
- People with permanent disabilities
- Security and Rescue Forces and Armed Forces
- Truck drivers and workers in urban and long-distance collective road transport for passengers
- port workers
- Prison system officials
- Adolescents and young people from 12 to 21 years of age under socio-educational measures
- population deprived of liberty
The influenza vaccine used by the Unified Health System (SUS) is produced by the Butantan Institute. The formulation is updated annually so that the dose is effective in protecting against the main strains of the virus in circulation. The trivalent vaccine includes protection against strains H1N1, H3N2 (including the Darwin strain, responsible for an outbreak in late 2021) and type B.
Recommendation for children
The Ministry of Health guides that for children aged six months to under 5 years old who have already received at least one dose of the influenza vaccine in previous years, the vaccination schedule with only one dose in 2022 should be considered.
For children who will be vaccinated for the first time, the guideline is to schedule the second dose of the flu vaccine for 30 days after the first dose.
Flu surge
In December 2021, several capital cities had a high incidence of influenza cases caused mainly by the Darwin lineage, which was not part of the vaccine composition used in the Southern Hemisphere last year.
The unusual phenomenon of an increase in cases was also associated with low flu vaccination coverage, the relaxation of restriction measures adopted to prevent Covid-19 and the relaxation of respiratory etiquette, which includes the use of masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.
Covid-19
Influenza vaccination is also one of the strategies to face the Covid-19 pandemic. As the flu and the new coronavirus infection are two respiratory diseases, protection against one is complementary to the other.
Immunization helps to prevent the emergence of complications and deaths and contributes to reducing the flow of care in health services.
Basic care helps prevent the flu
Source: CNN Brasil
