Vaccines are one of the greatest legacies in the history of public health and one of the greatest achievements of this pandemic.
The vaccines against Covid-19 approved by Anvisa, as long as they are in sufficient quantity and distributed en masse to Brazilian society, will play a fundamental role in reducing hospitalizations, serious cases and deaths caused by Covid-19.
As more and more scientific evidence accumulates every day that, unfortunately, there is no proven effective drug treatment that prevents infection with the new coronavirus or that prevents the progression to moderate and severe forms, Brazilian society needs to be properly informed of the risk that so-called early treatment can bring, leading to a relaxation in safety measures, in addition to harm to health.
There is an urgent need to raise awareness among the Brazilian population to maintain non-pharmacological measures to combat Covid-19, such as physical distancing, avoiding crowds, the correct use of face masks and frequent hand hygiene.
Our National Immunization Program (PNI), integrated into the Unified Health System (SUS), is a milestone and a source of pride for all Brazilians and a model outside the country. The Brazilian population has always joined the vaccination campaigns en masse against our main diseases, learned to trust vaccines and Brazil has one of the highest vaccine acceptance rates compared to other countries.
The State University of Campinas believes in Brazil, believes that we can overcome the pandemic, but is concerned, as an institution, with the slowness and delay of the mass vaccination process in the country and the small quantity of vaccines available today. A further delay in mass vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 could lead to more unnecessary, vaccine-preventable deaths.
We need tens of millions of doses of vaccines and strategic planning, so that we can defeat the disease and the threat that affects the country. Science brought us vaccines, gave an extraordinary response in record time, but unfortunately we have another war, that of disinformation promoted by internal enemies who preach scientific denialism, obscurantism and defend the irresponsible anti-vaccine movement. We need to fight those who defend the virus and are against vaccines.
Worldwide, more than 64 million doses have been administered and more than 32 million people have already been vaccinated. The few adverse reactions that were reported occurred with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and in people who were already known to be very allergic. There are no reports of serious reactions to vaccines from other manufacturers. Vaccines against Covid-19 are effective and safe.
Vaccines do not only protect the vaccinated individual, but they protect the entire society, they protect everyone around them, they protect the family and everyone who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Vaccination is a beautiful act of empathy, social responsibility, solidarity, citizenship, respect for life and a right for everyone.
The Brazilian population needs to be protected against Covid-19, our enemy is the virus, not vaccines. Vaccines save millions of lives per year, improve our quality of life, increase our life expectancy, leading to a healthier life. Embrace the cause of mass vaccination. We will demand vaccines for everyone in Brazil, distributed equitably and equitably. Let's vaccinate against Covid-19, let's save lives. Take care of your health. Take care of the health of those you love. Get vaccinated!
Dean of Unicamp
Campinas, January 26, 2021
