MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil launches multi-vaccination campaign

“It is unacceptable that today, in the 21st century, we still have children with vaccine-preventable diseases,” Queiroga said

In a move to make up for time lost during COVID-19 lockdowns, Brazilian health authorities Sunday launched a multi-vaccination campaign focused on polio and other diseases targetting children and adolescents who have failed to take the immunizers.

Starting Monday, about 40,000 vaccination will function nationwide to apply 18 types of immunizers included in the national vaccination calendar. The campaign will end Sept. 9.

The different vaccines available are: Hepatitis A and B; Penta (DTP/Hib/Hep B), Pneumococcal 10 valent; VIP (Inactivated Polio Vaccine); HRV (Human Rotavirus Vaccine); Meningococcal C (conjugate); OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine); Yellow fever; Triple viral (Measles, Rubella, Mumps); Tetraviral (Measles, Rubella, Mumps, Varicella); DTP (triple bacterial); Varicella and quadrivalent HPV (Human Papillomavirus); HPV; dT (double adult); Yellow fever; triple viral; Hepatitis B, dTpa and Meningococcal ACWY (conjugated).

Vaccination against polio is for children under 5 years old. The multi-vaccination is for children and adolescents under 15.

According to the Health Ministry, COVID-19 vaccines can be administered simultaneously or at any interval with the other immunizers. starting at the age of 3.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said that the last case of polio in Brazil was recorded in 1989. He also pointed out vaccination decreased worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I urge parents to take their children to the vaccination rooms. It is unacceptable that today, in the 21st century, 100 years after Oswaldo Cruz's extraordinary effort to introduce these sanitary concepts in Brazil, we still have children with vaccine-preventable diseases,” Queiroga said upon launching the campaign.

The ministry expects to vaccinate about 14.3 million people against polio. All immunizers offered are registered with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

Meanwhile, homosexual rights groups in Brazil have denounced that monkeypox has brought about a problem already noticed in the 1980s when the first cases of HIV appeared - the disease was linked to the sexual orientation of people, thus boosting discrimination.

Last week, an editorial published in the Brazilian Journal of Nursing warned that a discriminatory approach to patients with monkeypox might hinder treatment, delaying its diagnosis and even the search for health care.
Tying “sexual orientation to the monkeypox virus makes no sense, since there are communication options that can prove equally effective, such as, for example, focusing on the practice of sexual relations between infected individuals, without categorizing sexualities or practices in specifics, assuming a globalized position of health actions and epidemiological control,” the publication said.

Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection, although it can spread by intimate contact during sexual intercourse when there is an active rash. The infection is transmitted from the wounds, body fluids, and droplets of a sick person. This can occur through close and prolonged contact without respiratory protection, contact with contaminated objects, or skin contact.

This is what happened to 48-year-old English teacher Peter Branch. He and his companion live in São Paulo and were infected by the disease. The British national, who has been living in Brazil for more than 9 years, complained about prejudice involving the disease. “We got infected going to a heterosexual bar. I think the most serious thing is that heterosexual men and women are not paying attention to the symptoms and, therefore, infecting others as well,” he said. “What bothers me is that people think this is only in the gay community,” he added.

He said he had a fever, headache, and fatigue, and that the lesions appeared later. He received treatment at the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectology. “The stains hurt a little, and the bad thing was the isolation, not being able to play with my dogs”. Peter is already feeling well and is following the recovery of his companion, it was reported.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)