The director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations Renato Kfouri believes that we have “a unique opportunity to eliminate measles again” in the country.
In an interview with CNN Radio he explained that the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, with social distancing and the use of masks, helped in this sense, to cause a drop in cases again.
“There are four states still with registrations. Pará, which has been without cases for more than 3 months, São Paulo, with two months without circulation, Rio de Janeiro and Amapá.”
The elimination of measles, according to him, took place in 2016, “due to the high levels of vaccination coverage, when an imported case came, it did not find a number of susceptible individuals to circulate.”
However, this changed in 2018, with an outbreak in the North and Southeast, with the population not vaccinated. From 2018 to 2021, there were 31,000 cases “due to low coverage.”
The Ministry of Health has launched an action plan to fight it so that Brazil can once again have the World Health Organization’s measles eradication certificate.
Kfouri said that several aspects involve this strategy of the Ministry: “The first is vaccination, second surveillance, with training to recognize suspected cases and the third is the laboratory to have speed for the result, in order to promote blocking actions that stop the spread of the virus.”
“The plan involves a pact between states, the Union, municipalities, health surveillance, the National Immunization Plan, all together for the fight”, he added.
For every thousand cases of measles, one death is recorded. According to Kfouri, it is “inadmissible” to have a single victim of the disease.
*With production by Isabel Campos
Source: CNN Brasil
