By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná, with support from the Ministry of Health, are beginning to carry out this month, a schedule of actions to intensify surveillance and vaccination against yellow fever in the Southern Region, according to the Brazil Health Ministry.

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The measure is preventive and seeks to sensitize surveillance teams, and vaccinate the population from 9 months of age. The goal is for municipalities to actively search for unvaccinated people before the period of highest incidence of the disease, which occurs from December to May. In addition, the Ministry of Health intends, along with states and municipalities, to strengthen surveillance of non-human primates (monkeys).

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Vaccination actions will take place between August and December in the three states: Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. Also part of the action schedule is the organization of the health care network, clinical management protocols and epidemiological investigation in strategic areas.

The vaccination strategy in the Southern Region will have the widening age range of the target audience to be vaccinated. The recommendation is that vaccination should be extended to people over 60, as they are in places with evidence of viral circulation (epizootic, human cases or infected vector). In this case, it will be up to the health services to evaluate the risk / benefit of vaccination for this public. For people traveling to areas where the vaccine is recommended, guidance is to take the dose at least 10 days before travel.


This year, the Federal Government has sent 9.9 million doses of the yellow fever vaccine nationwide. Of this total, 5.9 million doses were destined for the Southern Region. The vaccine is part of the National Vaccination Calendar and is available at over 37,000 vaccination posts in the country.

Since April 2017, Brazil has adopted the single-dose vaccine schedule, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), backed by studies that ensure that one dose is sufficient for lifelong protection.

The detection of virus circulation in the Southern Region occurred at the beginning of this year, in Paraná, in January; in Santa Catarina in March. In 2019, until May 31, 85 cases and 15 deaths from the disease were confirmed in the country, 14 cases and 3 deaths in the Southern Region. Most of the infected are young male adults, who live or work in areas rural.