Bosnia and Herzegovina City Council expands meningitis vaccination; Find out who can get vaccinated

The municipality of Belo Horizonte on Tuesday (27), exceptionally and temporarily expanded the range of the public that can be vaccinated against meningitis, with the meningococcal ACWY (conjugated) vaccine. This measure comes in an effort to improve vaccination coverage of the population and, at the same time, mitigate cases of meningitis C, which has grown in Minas Gerais and neighboring states.

According to the Director of Health Promotion and Epidemiological Surveillance at the Municipal Health Department, Paulo Roberto López Corre, vaccination coverage for adolescents is now necessary to reduce disease transmission. “Young people are primarily responsible for maintaining the circulation of the disease in the community, due to the high rates of carriers,” he says, referring to cases in which young men show no signs of meningitis and go on to transmit the disease.

The wide audience for vaccination is:

• health professionals (first dose);
• adolescents between 15 and 16 years of age (first dose);
• adolescents or adults with HIV/AIDS who have been over 5 years of age since the last dose of an immunomodulator received (the first booster dose);
• Children 12 months of age or older (first booster dose to replace schemes started with meningococcal C conjugate vaccine)

place of vaccination

Vaccination is done 152 health centers in the capital And in the case of people living with HIV/AIDS, the vaccine is also available online Reference Center for Specific Immunobiology🇧🇷

Meningitis is recognized as a public health problem because of its seriousness – even fatality – rapid development and potential to cause epidemics. In outbreaks, the disease can affect teens and young adults, as well as other age groups.

The difference between vaccines:

According to Correa, the meningitis vaccine — meningitis C vaccine (conjugated) and ACWY vaccine (conjugated) — differ in coverage of disease serotypes.

• Meningitis C (conjugated) vaccine: protects against the serotype of Neisseria meningitidis (meningococci), one of the main bacteria causing meningitis.
• ACWY vaccine (conjugate): protects against 4 serotypes of the disease.