RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s government launched a campaign on Wednesday, December 16th, to raise awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 since the country has seen over 7 million infections and 183,735 deaths.
“Today we are launching a communication campaign in two phases,” Secretary of Health Regulation Arnaldo Medeiros said during the presentation of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan at the presidential headquarters.
The campaign aims to reassure the population about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines approved by national health regulator Anvisa.
The first phase “intends to enlighten the population about the efficacy of the vaccines the country is going to use, as well as our operational capacity to distribute them,” said Medeiros.
“The second phase will occur during vaccination and will serve to summon the groups to be vaccinated to … the vaccination points,” he added.
Officials have designed an app that can be downloaded to smartphones for easy consultation as part of the campaign. “You can download the application for free,” said Medeiros, adding “what we want is an immunized Brazil.”
The plan will prioritize some 50 million people considered to be in high-risk groups, such as the elderly and healthcare workers.
At the event Wednesday, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said Brazil has the necessary infrastructure to deliver vaccines to all parts of the country in a short time, thanks to the country’s robust public healthcare system.