RIO DE JANEIRO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government announced a new campaign for vaccination against polio and measles, following a decrease in vaccination rates and outbreaks of measles, state-owned news agency Agencia Brasil said Thursday.
The Ministry of Health called on Xuxa Meneghel, a nationally famous TV hostess, to deliver the message that parents and guardians must vaccinate their children and should not believe in the claim that childhood vaccinations are not needed.
A nationwide effort towards the promotion of vaccination will run from Aug. 6-31, aiming to vaccinate children under five years old, a group with especially low polio vaccine coverage.
Brazil was declared measles-free in 2016 by the Pan-American Health Organization, but the country is now facing outbreaks of this infectious illness mainly in northern states of Roraima and Amazonas.
New polio cases have not been registered in Brazil, but the vaccination rates dropped to its lowest in the past 16 years, with 312 Brazilian municipalities registering below 50 percent, according to the Ministry of Health.
