ABSTRACT
The successful Programa Nacional de Imunizações do Brasil (Brazilian National Immunization Program) has been experiencing a major challenge with regard to vaccination coverage for children, which has been dropping. Several aspects are related, but certainly vaccine hesitancy has been strengthening itself as one of the main concerns of Brazilian public administrators and researchers. Vaccine hesitancy is the delay in acceptance or refusal despite having the recommended vaccines available in health services, being a phenomenon that varies over time, over location and over types of vaccines. Hesitant individuals are between the two poles of total acceptance and refusal of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new in European and North-American countries, and even in Brazil, it has been studied even if under another name. The drop of vaccination coverage observed from 2016 on reiterates the relevance of the theme, which must be better understood through scientific research.
Subject(s)
Vaccination Coverage/statistics & numerical data , Vaccination Coverage/trends , Vaccination Refusal/statistics & numerical data , Vaccination Refusal/trends , Anti-Vaccination Movement/trends , Brazil , Diphtheria/prevention & control , Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine , Humans , Immunization Programs/statistics & numerical data , Immunization Programs/trends , Measles/prevention & control , Measles Vaccine , Poliomyelitis/prevention & control , Poliovirus Vaccines , Risk Factors , Tetanus/prevention & control , Time Factors , Whooping Cough/prevention & controlABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The successful Programa Nacional de Imunizações do Brasil (Brazilian National Immunization Program) has been experiencing a major challenge with regard to vaccination coverage for children, which has been dropping. Several aspects are related, but certainly vaccine hesitancy has been strengthening itself as one of the main concerns of Brazilian public administrators and researchers. Vaccine hesitancy is the delay in acceptance or refusal despite having the recommended vaccines available in health services, being a phenomenon that varies over time, over location and over types of vaccines. Hesitant individuals are between the two poles of total acceptance and refusal of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new in European and North-American countries, and even in Brazil, it has been studied even if under another name. The drop of vaccination coverage observed from 2016 on reiterates the relevance of the theme, which must be better understood through scientific research.
RESUMO O exitoso Programa Nacional de Imunizações do Brasil tem vivenciado grande desafio com relação às coberturas vacinais infantis, que têm apresentado queda. Diversos aspectos estão relacionados, mas certamente a hesitação vacinal vem se fortalecendo como uma das principais preocupações dos gestores e pesquisadores brasileiros. Hesitação vacinal é o atraso em aceitar ou a recusa das vacinas recomendadas quando elas estão disponíveis nos serviços de saúde, sendo um fenômeno que varia ao longo do tempo, do local e dos tipos de vacinas. Indivíduos hesitantes situam-se entre os dois polos de aceitação e recusa total da vacinação. A hesitação vacinal não é novidade em países europeus e norte-americanos e, mesmo no Brasil, ela já vem sendo estudada ainda que sob outra denominação. A queda das coberturas vacinais observadas a partir de 2016 reitera a relevância do tema, que deve ser mais bem compreendido por meio de investigações científicas.