From warehouse to remote indigenous communities: The journey of vaccines in Brazil

Thanks to a highly effective National Immunization Programme, most Brazilian parents can feel confident that their children will get the lifesaving vaccines they need – when they need them.

Routine vaccination coverage in the country averages above 95% for most vaccines on the child immunization schedule every year – exceeding WHO’s recommendation of at least 90% coverage.

Most of the vaccines are produced through local manufacturers and provided free of charge in more than 36 000 public health care facilities throughout the country. Every year, the country provides more than 300 million doses of vaccines. It recently boosted immunization efforts against the yellow fever outbreak with more than 27 million extra vaccine doses.

But some people remain hard to reach. One of the biggest challenges in Brazil is providing essential medical supplies and health care to remote communities deep in the Amazon jungle, where roads are few and medical teams have to travel hours by boat to reach them.