The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, ruled out, in an interview with CNN that the suspected case registered in Pará is polio.
Queiroga stated that the most likely thing is that there was an adverse event to the oral vaccine, that is, any undesired medical occurrence that has no causal relationship with immunization. The minister also reinforced the need to immunize children up to five years old against the disease.
The suspected case is that of a three-year-old boy who was not fully vaccinated against the disease and who presented with acute flaccid paralysis in Santo Antônio do Tauá (PA). Some of the symptoms of paralysis are weakness in the legs, motor difficulty, muscle spasms and muscle atrophy.
“Yesterday there was a rumor of a case in Pará, but it was not confirmed. The child had an incomplete primary vaccination schedule. Most likely there was an adverse event to the oral vaccine. This case of Pará, as far as I know, has already been discarded. It’s not polio. in the feces [da criança] there’s a vaccine virus there, it’s from the vaccine. It’s not polio. Fortunately, but it can happen, otherwise we weren’t talking about it all the time [campanha de vacinação]”, said the minister.
The goal of the Ministry of Health’s national vaccination campaign against poliomyelitis is at least 95% of the child population under five years of age. Until this Friday (7), however, 62.50% of children between one and under five years old were immunized against poliomyelitis, according to data from the LocalizaSUS platform.
The disease was eradicated in the country in 1994, but the low adherence to vaccination in recent years worries specialists and the ministry itself.
Queiroga said that vaccination coverage is low not only in Brazil, but throughout the world and cited countries such as the United States and Israel. The minister also said that, despite the end of the campaign, all vaccines that make up the National Vaccination Calendar, such as the immunizing agent that protects against polio, remain available to the population throughout the year.
“Fathers, mothers and guardians, take their children under five to complete the polio vaccination schedule. This is the only way we will be able to keep the country free of polio”, reinforced the minister.
*With collaboration of Wesley Sabino.
Source: CNN Brasil
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