With a target audience of more than five million people in Rio Grande do Sul, the influenza vaccination campaign begins on Monday (10). Unlike previous editions, this year’s strategy is recommended as a single phase, ie without overwhelming the eligible groups. These guidelines can be adapted by municipalities, according to locally proposed structure, conditions and timelines.

The State Department of Health (SES) has already distributed 828,000 doses to municipalities. New transfers are scheduled to take place over the next few weeks, as the country receives the payments sent from the Ministry of Health.

The goal is to vaccinate 90% of priority groups of children, pregnant women, postpartum women, people aged 60 or over, indigenous peoples, teachers and health workers. Together, these groups account for about 3.6 million people in the estimated population. For other eligible audiences, which total another 1.4 million people, doses will be provided, however, without the requirement to achieve coverage.

“Vaccination against influenza is one of the preventive measures to prevent disease, its complications and mortality, in addition to contributing to the reduction of viral circulation in the population, especially in individuals who have risk factors or conditions,” explains Director of the Governmental Center for Health Surveillance (Cevs), Tani Ranieri .

D-Day on May 6th

Together with the Council of Municipal Health Trustees (Cosems/RS), SES has agreed to implement a D-Day campaign in the state on May 6. On that date, there will be unusually open positions for vaccination. At the national level, the Ministry of Health did not specify this date for mobilization, leaving this definition to the states.