Vaccination coverage against poliomyelitis reaches a rate of 65.6%

Vaccination coverage against polio reached, until this Monday (17), National Vaccination Day, 65.6% of the expected public, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

The 2022 National Vaccination Campaign against Poliomyelitis and Multivaccination began on August 8 and ended on September 30, after an extension. The objective of the campaign was to achieve vaccination coverage equal to or greater than 95% in the 1 to 5 year old age group. The state of Paraíba was the only one to reach the goal, reaching 95.09% of the immunized target population. Amapá immunized 90.08%.

Despite the end of the national polio vaccination campaign by the Ministry of Health on September 30, 12 states and the Federal District decided to extend the action due to low coverage.

Brazil has not detected cases of poliomyelitis since 1989, but the decrease in vaccination rates may lead to a return of the disease. According to data from the Ministry of Health, a progressive drop in vaccination coverage has been detected since 2015, when the rates reached 98.3%. Since 2017, the target of 95% of polio vaccination coverage in children under 1 year of age has not been reached. In 2021, coverage reached 69.99%.

The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, emphasized the duty of parents and guardians to vaccinate children.

“The recipe for not having this disease anymore, we already have it. We know what we have to do: vaccinate the population”, said the minister. “It is unacceptable, in the middle of the 21st century, to have children suffering from diseases that have a vaccine”, he added.

Even with the end of the campaigns, the vaccines that make up the National Vaccination Calendar are still available to the Brazilian population throughout the year.