The Minister announces the update of the polio vaccine as of 2024

The Ministry of Health will gradually replace the OPV with the inactivated version of the vaccine starting in 2024. The recommendation was discussed and approved by the Immunization Technical Advisory Board, which considered new scientific evidence for disease prevention.

The ministry said that this update does not represent the immediate end to immunity in the version known as droplets, but rather represents a technical advance to increase the effectiveness of the vaccination schedule that will be implemented after a transitional period.

The recommendation of the Technical Chamber for Brazil was to exclusively adopt inactivated polio vaccine in the inactivated vaccine at 15 months of age, which is currently done with the oral vaccine. The injectable form is administered at two, four and six months of age, according to the national vaccination calendar. Therefore, after a transition period starting in the first half of 2024, Brazilian children who have completed the first three doses of the vaccine will receive a booster dose of the injectable vaccine at just 15 months of age.

The currently applied booster dose after four years will no longer be necessary, as the four-dose vaccination schedule would ensure protection against polio. The update took into account epidemiological standards, vaccine-related evidence and international recommendations on the subject.

community movements

The new recommendation was made on Friday (7), during He lives [transmissão ao vivo pela internet] By the Minister of Health, Nicia Trindade, with the Brazilian Pediatric Society (SBP).

“Resuming high vaccination coverage is a priority for the federal government. This is a movement and not an isolated campaign because of the idea of ​​continuity and continuous monitoring of results. The minister explained that this work is not limited to the Ministry of Health and that is why we are going where there are community movements.”

Since 1989, no cases of polio have been reported in Brazil, but vaccination coverage against the disease has suffered successive declines in recent years. Across Brazil, coverage was 77.19% last year, far from the 95% target for this vaccine. Therefore, mobilization to resume the high vaccination coverage in the country, which was once an international reference, is essential.

Multiple vaccinations

during the He livesThe multi-vaccination procedure targeting children under 15 years of age with all vaccines in the national calendar was also addressed. The idea is to review and update vaccination records with missed doses.

The Ministry of Health will allocate more than R$151 million to states and municipalities to invest in vaccination measures. The Resource Allocation Act will be published in the coming weeks.

To combat the risk of a resurgence of diseases already eradicated by vaccination – such as polio – the ministry has adopted careful planning in which it works with states and municipalities to improve the planning of vaccination actions.

Teams will go to the states to participate in the procedures of this method, such as analyzing the data situation (local geographic, socio-economic and demographic characteristics), defining vaccination strategies, follow-up and monitoring procedures and evaluating the entire vaccination process to reach the goals.

strategy

The idea is that the municipality organizes itself and plans taking into account local realities. In this sense, the immunization strategy will be adapted according to the population, health structure and socio-economic and geographical realities. Among the strategies that can be adopted through partial planning by municipalities are vaccination in schools, active search for unvaccinated individuals, vaccination in any contact with a health service, vaccination outside the fences, checking the vaccination book, and intensification of vaccination in indigenous areas.

Based on this strategy, multiple inoculations were expected in border states, such as Acre and Amazonas. The next state to receive this measure will be Amapá, starting July 15, with the D-Day vaccination.