The second phase of the National Influenza Vaccination Campaign began on Thursday (16) and will continue until May 9.
In this phase, priority groups will be considered: professionals from the security and rescue forces, carriers of chronic non-communicable diseases and other special clinical conditions, prison staff, adolescents and young people aged 12 to 21 under socio-educational measures, the population deprived of their liberty, truck drivers , public transport and port drivers, as well as indigenous.
The forecast of the State Department of Health is to deliver to the municipalities about 906,622 doses of the vaccine, through the 22 Regional Health Offices. The first batch, with about 273 thousand doses, started to be distributed earlier this week for supply in the cities. 399 cities in the state.
The State Secretary for Health, Beto Preto, recalls that Paraná continues to advise municipal secretaries to promote vaccination strategies with the support and partnership of companies, entities and institutions, especially schools and colleges, which are currently without classes. “Our goal is for the vaccination campaign to take place in addition to health clinics, avoiding queues and agglomerations when searching for the vaccine and that the State should achieve coverage above 90% of the estimated population of 2.879 million,” he said.
He also said that the flu vaccine is safe, and stressed that it does not prevent coronavirus infection; however, it prevents serious cases of influenza from possible hospitalizations due to some types of severe acute respiratory syndrome. “Once protected against the flu, the person reduces the chance of becoming ill and seeking medical and hospital care,” he added.
Balance – In the first phase of the campaign, which started on March 23, Paraná applied approximately 1,487,155 doses to a population of 1,429,775, among the elderly and health workers, established as the target audience for this stage.
To date, 92.99% of the elderly and 77.89% of healthcare workers have been immunized. 209 municipalities reached more than 100% of the vaccinated elderly population.
According to the head of the Immunization Program of the Secretariat of Health, Vera Rita da Maia, these are preliminary data, as there are still people being vaccinated in these age groups and points out that the calendars are established to organize and encourage mass coverage strategies. “But vaccination can always be done throughout the campaign. Even this year we had the anticipation in one month due to the pandemic situation of the coronavirus ”, he said.
A third phase of the National Campaign for Immunization against Influenza is scheduled to start on May 9 and will target public and private school teachers, children from 6 months to under 6 years, pregnant women, puerperal women, adults aged 55 and over. to 59 years old and people with disabilities.
(Paraná News Agency)
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TRUCKERS AND PORTS – Vaccination for truck drivers and port workers will continue until May 9, when the third phase of the campaign will begin. To get vaccinated, the truck driver must present a document proving his performance, which can be: work permit, paycheck with identity document, membership card of the transport union (driver category), driver’s license ( for drivers of categories C or E) or functional badge.
The port worker, who works in the services defined by law 12.815 / 2003, must take, at the time of vaccination, proof of registration with the Labor Management Agency (OGMO) or the membership card of the union in the category , paycheck with identity document, statements of the services where it operates, work card or functional badge.
Source: Portos do Paraná