A year after the start of vaccination against Covid-19, the vice president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations, Isabella Ballalai, considers that the campaign “is a success.”
In an interview with CNN, she believes that, from the moment the Ministry of Health managed to offer a sufficient quantity of doses, immunization took off.
“This shows that the population is pro-vaccine, trusts it, understands that it works and this has generated the high vaccination coverage we have. We are a reference in the world”, he defended.
She highlighted that despite the campaign being a success, “we have to move forward”, especially in the third dose, since the advancement of the Ômicron variant causes an increase in cases. “However, deaths and hospitalizations are rare and, when they do happen, they are most often in unvaccinated people.”
Even with the escalation of infections, Ballalai sees reasons to celebrate: the production of the national vaccine by Fiocruz – “we are a gigantic country, and we cannot be at the mercy of an international market to buy the vaccine” – and the beginning of immunization of children from 5 to 11 years.
Isabella Ballalai recommended that parents vaccinate their children as soon as possible, depending on the availability of doses, and that people seek the third dose.
“Unfortunately, while we do not vaccinate the entire planet, we are celebrating here, but there are countries with very low coverage, the circulation of the virus causes new variants to emerge, so it needs to improve coverage of the third dose and advance in other countries.”
Reference: CNN Brasil
