Vaccination against poliomyelitis in Brazil from 2011 to 2021: successes, setbacks, and challenges ahead

Abstract

The drop in childhood vaccination coverage (VC), including poliomyelitis, has become a health concern. The objective was to analyze the temporal trend of coverage of the three doses of the polio vaccine in the first 12 months of life between 2011 and 2021, in addition to mapping vaccination coverage in Brazil, including the COVID-19 pandemic period. An ecological study was carried out using interrupted time series (STI) techniques and spatial analysis, with data from the National Immunization Program Information System. The VC trend was adjusted by the Newey-West variance estimator according to the federated units and the Brazilian Deprivation Index. The VC distribution was estimated by Bayesian models and the spatial clusters by the global and local Moran index, identifying areas of lower coverage in the health regions. There was a reduction in the VC over the period in all regions, being more pronounced in the North and Northeast regions and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The biggest drops were identified in states and health regions with greater social vulnerability after 2019. The drop in VC shows that the risk of reintroduction of the wild virus is imminent and the challenges need to be faced with the strengthening of the Brazilian Health System (SUS).

Key words:
Vaccination coverage; Immunization; Spatial analysis; Ecological studies; Poliomyelitis; COVID-19