Brazil maintains 95% vaccination coverage over the last 10 years

Vaccination coverage in Brazil over the last 10 years has averaged 95% for most vaccines on the child immunization schedule and in vaccination campaigns, according to a government press notice. Vaccines are made freely available in the 35,000 public health care units. Maintaining child immunization schedules up to date ensures health and helps Brazil to continue registering high rates of vaccination coverage against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Brazil’s National Immunization Program (PNI) from the Ministry of Health has established schedules not only for the first year of life, but also for children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens. "Brazil has one of the best and most complex immunization programs in the world, offering vaccines against a range of diseases, free of charge. The vaccine is an important ally to control, combat and eliminate these diseases and Brazil is a model for other countries that have not managed to achieve vaccination coverage such as ours," said Jarbas Barbosa, Secretary of Health Monitoring.

As an example, in 2011, the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis achieved 107.7% vaccine coverage; the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella achieved 102.2% and meningococcal conjugate C, included in the schedule in 2011, achieved 105.5% vaccination coverage. In 2012, during the polio vaccination campaign for children under five years of age, more than 14 million children were vaccinated, attaining vaccination coverage of 98%. Vaccination campaigns against influenza also show the mobilization capacity of the PNI in terms of the population adhering to the call for vaccination. This year, more than 25 million vaccines were registered and total coverage reached 86.24% of the target population, estimated at around 30 million people.