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An important reinforcement in the fight against the largest dengue epidemic the country has ever experienced — the vaccine — will be distributed to another 154 Brazilian cities. The Ministry of Health announced the measure as a way to optimize the application of doses, as 668 thousand doses are close to expiry, scheduled for April 30, according to the ministry itself.
In this way, the following regions are now covered: Central (ES), Betim, Uberaba and Uberlândia/Araguari (MG); Recife (PE), Apucarana (PR), Greater Florianópolis, Guarani Aquifer (SP), Metropolitan Region of Campinas (SP), São José do Rio Preto (SP) and São Paulo.
The director of the Department of the National Immunization Program (DPNI), Eder Gatti Fernandes, explains the expansion of municipalities covered:
“We know that there are a number of these doses that were not applied. We cannot let these doses expire, we need to use them. Faced with this, the Ministry of Health came up with a solution: redistribute, within the federated units — that is, within the states, to municipalities that have not yet been covered.”
Brazil surpasses 2 million cases of dengue
Doses already applied
Just over a third of the doses sent to the 521 municipalities have been applied so far. According to the Ministry of Health, of the 1,235,119 doses distributed, 534,631 were registered as applied, while 700,488 have not yet been registered.
The government received a new shipment — with 930 thousand doses — which will be distributed to the 521 municipalities previously selected and to the 154 planned for expansion. This way, it will be possible to ensure that vaccination continues, without there being a lack of the vaccine.
Edition: Zildenor Dourado
Zildenor Dourado has a degree in Journalism and Literature/Portuguese from the University of Brasília. He is a specialist in Legislative Communication, from Unilegis, of the Federal Senate. He worked as a reporter and editor for the newspapers Tribuna da Bahia, A Tarde and Jornal de Brasília. in addition to several union press vehicles. He worked as a publicist for the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District, where he was a reporter, editor and head of the Publicity and Press Relations Section.
