The influenza vaccination campaign began last Monday (7), in the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast and South, with the objective of immunizing 90% of the target audience, consisting mainly of elderly, children between 6 months and 6 years, pregnant and postpartum women.
The Ministry of Health summons these groups and the other able to vaccinate seek protection as soon as possible in health facilities in their municipalities, because the virus causing the flu circulates harder in the fall and winter in these regions. In the second half, it will be the turn of the Northern region to be immunized, to cover the “Amazonian winter”, rain period from December to May.
But an important obstacle that Brazilian society needs to overcome to achieve the vaccination goal is the many false information circulating on social networks. The president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIM), Monica Levi, warns that the greatest risk is vulnerable groups believe in misinformation and risks, including death, without protection.
“False information is sometimes more lethal than the disease itself. This is one of the great threats to human health,” he warns. “Some people may stop getting vaccinated, believing in false stories and consequently will remain vulnerable, which may even lead to death,” she adds.
According to the Ministry of Health, the immunizer is able to avoid between 60% and 70% of severe cases and disease -related deaths.
Know what is true and what is fake news
See below the explanations of the president of SBIM to deny some of the false information that circulates the most against the flu vaccine and endanger people’s lives:
LIE: “The vaccine can make some people take the flu”
TRUE: According to the expert, this is the time of year when rhinoviruses, metapneumovirus, respiratory virus, among other viruses, but people call any flu respiratory picture. Even if the person has fever, sore throat and cough, it can be another respiratory virus, such as Covid’s, for example. Also, if the person has already been infected, and is incubating the virus, the symptoms may appear after it has taken the vaccine. And it takes at least two weeks to develop protection. During this period, the person remains vulnerable, including flu, as who was not vaccinated.
LIE: “The flu vaccine is not safe and can cause the death of older people”
TRUE: This is an extremely safe vaccine, so much so that the priority groups chosen to get the vaccine are the most impaired immunity. A person who makes a bone marrow transplant, the first vaccine he has to get, three months after transplantation, is the flu vaccine. Why is she safe? Because it is an inactivated vaccine, that is, the virus is dead, fractionated and you only use a fraction of it in the production of antibodies. So, in anyone, whether immunocompetent or immunocompromised, whether a person who has some comorbidity, he will be extremely safe.
LIE: “The vaccine does not totally avoid contagion, so it has no effectiveness”
TRUE: The flu vaccine is effective mainly to protect against severe illness and its complications and death. Depending on the age group and the degree of immune response of the vaccinated person, it may have less effectiveness against contagion by the virus, but it remains very important to prevent the severe form of the disease. Therefore, the recommendation is that people who are most vulnerable to vaccinate every year so as not to take this risk.
LIE: “Flu is a common disease, without gravity. Therefore, it is not important to vaccinate”
TRUE: Flu is a potentially severe disease. Not all cases will be like this, there are people who will have symptoms, for about a week, without consequences. But some people will develop pneumonia, will develop an decompensation of other diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. That is why this is a very important vaccine in the age group of the elderly, because they have more serious, more hospitalization and more deaths. Then people with comorbidities and young children are the hardest hit by serious forms.
LIE: “Health professionals are mixing the flu vaccine with the covid vaccine”
TRUE: Alchemy is not made with any vaccine. Each one has its ingredients, its volume, its content and there has never been this story of vaccines being mixed. What exists are combined vaccines, which protect against various diseases, but they are already manufactured by the laboratory itself, with all the quantities and excipients of each of the components, calculated, tested, with clinical studies and the approval of regulatory organs. But that is not done with the flu vaccine and Covid’s vaccine.
Updated vaccine
Each year, the vaccine is updated to protect against the three types of influenza virus with greater circulation, so the immunizer being applied prevents influenza to H1N1 and H3N2 and against influenza B.
Therefore, to remain protected, it is necessary to receive the vaccine every year.
Who should be vaccinated against the flu
- Elderly
- 6 -month -old children under 6
- Pregnant women
- Indigenous peoples
- Homeless people
- People with noncommunicable chronic diseases and other special clinical conditions
- Permanent people with disabilities
- Private population of liberty, including adolescents and young people
- Professionals from the Armed Forces and Health, Education, Public Safety, Rescue, Prison Units, Collective and Cargo Road Transport and Ports.
This content was originally published in influenza vaccine is safe and does not cause the disease; Learn more truths on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

I am an experienced journalist and writer with a career in the news industry. My focus is on covering Top News stories for World Stock Market, where I provide comprehensive analysis and commentary on markets around the world. I have expertise in writing both long-form articles and shorter pieces that deliver timely, relevant updates to readers.