The state of Rio de Janeiro completed two years of vaccination against covid-19 today (18), registering the mark of 40.5 million doses distributed during this period. The pandemic vaccination campaign began at the Christ the Redeemer monument on January 18, 2021, after the government of Rio de Janeiro sought the first batch of vaccines for the state’s population in São Paulo. On that occasion, Terezinha da Conceição, then 80 years old, and health professional Dulcinéia da Silva, 61 years old, were the first people to be immunized. Today, the two women met again with the health professionals who applied the immunizers to celebrate life and share experiences after vaccination. For Terezinha Conceição, currently 82 years old and resident of Abrigo Cristo Redentor, linked to the Secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights, immunization brought hope for better days. She said she was thrilled to be the first elderly woman immunized in the state. “I was anxious for life to start returning to normal, for us to be able to go out, be with people”. Terezinha asked that the entire population be vaccinated. “The virus is not over yet and soon we will have carnival”, she warned. There was also no lack of emotion for Angelo Batista da Silva, a nurse at the Health Surveillance Rapid Response Unit of the State Department of Health (SES), who was scheduled to accompany the first shipment that arrived in the state and apply the first dose in the technique of nursing Dulcinea. ′′ It’s a great happiness to be able to see our population walk freely without having to wear masks, to be able to give a nice hug. It is very gratifying”, said the “nurse of Christ”, as Angelo became known. Hope “With the beginning of immunization, hope was born that we could overcome this virus. We managed to take the vaccine to the entire territory of Rio de Janeiro, always with the motto that each municipality matters. Our task force worked, and the symbology of that date will remain alive in us”, declared the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro. The positive results derive from the work of the health teams, the mutirões that stay up until dawn receiving, counting and separating the doses to be sent to the municipalities, and the logistical operation of air distribution, which has become a reference for other states in the country. This Wednesday, after the most critical moment of the pandemic, the state government recalled the change that the vaccine brought to the population, citing research carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), published last December in the journal Infectious Disease Modeling, which revealed that vaccination prevented more than 230,000 cases of hospitalizations and more than 43,000 deaths. The Secretary of State for Health, Doctor Luizinho, emphasized that “vaccines are the most important form of prevention that we have to protect the population against numerous diseases”. all citizens of the state access to immunizers in an equitable and equal way. The result of this is a reduction in the number of cases and deaths, ”he highlighted. The secretary appealed for people to take booster doses and for parents to take their children to be vaccinated. Mobilization With the Tudo pela vida mission, which used a helicopter from the Air Operations Superintendence (SOAer) of the State Department of Health and received support from aircraft from the Civil and Military Police and the Fire Department, the state government managed to deliver vaccines to 92 municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro in up to seven hours. The “Verdinho”, as the Health helicopter is known, transported 972 thousand doses, in 140 hours of flight. Together, in the period of one year, these aircraft took 2 million doses to the people of Rio de Janeiro, shortening spaces and saving lives. Responsible for SOAer, Major Roberto Medina reported that a task force allowed the delivery of 2 million doses of vaccine against covid-19. “We reached all regions, such as the north of the state, at a distance of around 300 kilometers from the capital. The population was waiting for us at the airfields, anxious for the vaccine, ”he recalled. In those two years, 50 million doses arrived and left the General Storage Coordination (CGA), in Niterói, recalled CGA superintendent Melissa Oliveira. “We carried out work to install seven freezers to receive vaccines at an ultra-low temperature. At the time of the distribution of vaccines by air, there were extra-hour activities in all the early mornings that preceded the distributions.” The superintendent of Epidemiological and Environmental Surveillance, Mario Sérgio Ribeiro, highlighted that, throughout 2021, the arrival of more vaccine doses in the country made it possible to expand the immunized public, and the progress in studies paved the way for the expansion of age groups able to be vaccinated. “In the beginning, the vaccine was released only for those over 18 years old. In 2022, it expanded to groups from 12 to 17 years old. At the end of 2022, children were included and, today, immunization is released for babies from 6 months”, commented Ribeiro. The state of Rio de Janeiro currently has 89% of the population over 12 years old with the complete initial scheme (two doses) and, among those over 60 years old, 50% have already received the second booster. In the younger population, aged between 18 and 40 years, booster dose coverage is around 20%.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©