Global General

Brazil to vaccinate 90m against A/H1N1 flu

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-02 10:34

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said on Monday that some 90 million people would be vaccinated against A/H1N1 flu in a nationwide campaign to start later this month.

"This will be the largest campaign in the world," said Temporao during a seminar in Sao Paulo. "I am confident that we can make a difference this year."

The vaccination campaign will be kicked off on March 8 and is scheduled to last two months.

According to Temporao, the first citizens to be vaccinated will be the healthcare professionals, such as physicians and nurses, and indigenous citizens.

The next in line will be pregnant women, children aged six months to two years, people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart problems and asthma and adults aged 20 to 39. Elders who do not have chronic diseases will receive the regular flu shot later this year.

In 2009, 39,679 Brazilians suffered from the A/H1N1 influenza and 1,705 of them died.

Temporao also said that the Health Ministry and the Science and Technology Ministry were working together to develop a vaccine against dengue fever, which affects the entire country.

"It is a long way because it is a complex disease," said Temporao. "But in five years we may have a vaccine."

In the first six weeks of this year, 21 people died of dengue fever in Brazil. The cases of the disease reached 108,640, up 109 percent from the same period in 2009.