Vaccination against flu in the North of the country starts this month – 03/11/2023 – Health

The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, said that she will anticipate the flu vaccination in states in the North region of the country. The announcement was made this Friday (11) at the headquarters of Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), in the city of São Paulo.

There, she also addressed the negotiation of the establishment of the Ceis (Economic-Industrial Health Complex) and presented the challenges of the SUS (Unified Health System).

She listed the low vaccination coverage, the increase in maternal mortality and the stagnation of the Popular Pharmacy program as some of the adversities.

The start of the flu campaign in the country is scheduled for April, but next week the North region will receive shipments of the vaccine so that it can apply the doses this month, an old request from health professionals and local managers.

Nísia also stated that studies on the impact of the nursing floor are being finalized and that the Ministry of Health has been monitoring the publication of scientific studies on the medicinal use of Cannabis, but any approval of a new medication for the SUS needs to go through a procedure .

“What I can say is that there is no type of prejudice, veto or restriction to all those medicines, including those based on Cannabis, that are useful for the population and that will follow the formal scientific and technical rite”, added the Secretary of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Inputs in Health, Carlos Gadelha.

As for Ceis, Nísia recalled that the initiative was presented in the past, when Alexandre Padilha was Minister of Health, but it was never implemented and remains necessary.

According to the minister, the country spent US$ 20.5 billion on imports in the health area in 2021, with a dependence of 90% in the case of APIs, and Ceis can not only reduce vulnerability in relation to the external market but also generate 25 million direct and indirect jobs.

To this end, Nísia presented proposals for strategic guidelines to the audience, made up mostly of industry representatives. Among the measures are: placing health as one of the main priorities of the sustainable development policy; guarantee stability and transparency for the strategic use of the State’s purchasing power; support for local production and innovation.

“We are talking here about the production of vaccines and drugs, but also about the area of ​​equipment”, he said, highlighting the high potential of the sector to encourage the economy and as the country’s gateway to the technological revolution of Big Data, nanotechnology and genomics.

“We have a scientific basis for this and we have a system, the SUS, which can guide this process”, added Nísia, who in her inauguration speech at the ministry said she wanted at least 70% of the demands of the public health system to be met by the industry national.

According to the minister, the idea is to establish a work agenda so that the ministry and the industry can design the necessary measures. Among the demands of industrial directors are, for example, differentiated regulatory costs and review of taxation, which would be favoring international products.

“Another issue that worries us a lot is the impact on health of the tax reform. We know and understand the need for a tax reform, but we are concerned about how the sector will be affected”, said Giovanni Cerri, president of the Instituto Coalizão Saúde.

Industry members also requested that the Ministry of Health coordinate dialogues with other ministries involved in the issue, such as Finance and Education, and with the municipal and state instances of the SUS.