The 2023 National Vaccination Program schedule affects the ENSP

Written by Barbara Souza

Fatima Rocha highlights the importance of communication strategies And health education Throughout compliance with the schedule. “It will be fundamental to the work of rehabilitating the importance of immunization for life, for group care. This is what vaccination is: when someone is vaccinated, they protect not only themselves, but others as well. It is group protection. And that is an important value that has ended up being ignored mainly in recent years,” the deputy director confirmed.

The role of health professionals from this moment on is another point that Fatma Rocha emphasized. “We have no doubt that after this period of resistance, we will have more energy and more possibilities to expand access to vaccination. Health workers need and deserve recognition for their significant contribution, as they have always been the custodians of this care. They will be key in restoring trust and understanding about the importance of vaccination. he declared.

Health workers are part of the target audience in the first phase of the schedule, so they will receive a booster dose of the dual vaccine against Covid-19. This priority group also includes people over 60 years of age, pregnant and puerperal women, immunocompromised patients, people with disabilities, people living in long stay institutions (ILP), indigenous peoples, riparian communities, and quilombolas. The Ministry of Health estimates that this group has a population of 52 million.

Researcher in the ENSP’s Department of Social Sciences, Ellen Engstrom also positively evaluates the disclosure of the table. It states that vaccination is carried out continuously in health units, but argues that it is necessary to “organize specific offers and also carry out national mobilization regarding vaccinations”. Ellen also believes that the initiative will contribute to planning a whole series of people participating in vaccination. “The rise of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, in addition to influenza and Covid-19, for example, makes both the disease picture of the population and the vaccination schedule for different audiences more complex. With age range and disease conditions. The schedule allows for further planning, For example, supplying these vaccines, so that there is stock and distribution to units. It also enables more direct and planned communication with health services, professionals and the population. I hope, with this, we will have an improvement in vaccination coverage rates,” he said.

The milestones and stages identified in the table are organized according to existing stocks, new orders placed and delivery commitments assumed by vaccine manufacturers. The schedule was agreed upon during several meetings, since the beginning of the year, with representatives of the National Council of Health Trustees (CONAS), the National Council of Municipal Health Trustees (CONASEMS), technicians and specialists from the Technical Advisory Council for Immunization (Ctai) and at the first meeting of the Interagency Tripartite Commission (CIT) in 2023, and could be changed, developed or overlapped, if the delivery scenario is modified or once new laboratory applications are approved by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA).

Here’s the five-step timeline:

Stage 1 – February

Vaccination against COVID-19 (booster with bivalent vaccine)

the target audience:

• People most likely to develop severe forms of Covid-19;

• People over 60 years of age.

• Pregnant women and postpartum women.

• Immunocompromised patients.

• people with disabilities;

• people who live in long-stay institutions (ILP);

• Indigenous, river and quilombola peoples;

• Workers and workers in the health field.

Stage 2 – March

Intensify vaccination against COVID-19

the target audience:

• All residents over 12 years old.

Step 3 – March

Intensify vaccination against COVID-19 among children and adolescents

the target audience:

• Children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years.

Strategies and procedures:

• Mobilize the school community, from kindergarten through high school with two weeks of mobilization and mentoring activities. Inform students, parents and guardians of the need to take the vaccination booklet for assessment;

Step 4 – April

Flu vaccination

the target audience:

• People over 60 years of age.

• Adolescents in social and educational measures.

• truck drivers;

• Children from 6 months to 4 years old.

• Armed forces;

• Security and rescue forces.

• Pregnant women and postpartum women.

• people with disabilities;

• People with comorbidities.

• Populations deprived of their liberty.

• Indigenous, river and quilombola peoples;

• Teachers and professors.

• Public transportation professionals.

Port professionals.

• Professionals from the regime of deprivation of liberty.

• Female and male health workers.

Step 5 – May

Multiple immunizations against polio and measles in schools

Strategies and procedures:

• School community mobilization, with two weeks of mobilization and mentoring activities. reduce unpollinated sinuses; Inform students, parents and guardians of the need to take the vaccination booklet for assessment;

low coverage

Brazil, which is considered a leading country in vaccination campaigns, has been experiencing setbacks in this field since 2016. Almost all vaccine coverage is below target. Therefore, the aim is to resume high percentages of protection. See the table on vaccine coverage by vaccine type, year and group in Brazil, from 2012 to 2022: