Via Mauricio’s Precavido.com, an astonishing report from a source called G1: Números da gripe suína (H1N1) estão reduzidos: sinal da vacinação? [Numbers of H1N1 cases are reduced; result of vaccination?] Excerpt, with my translation:
Uma análise preliminar de dados, divulgada pelo Ministério da Saúde nesta quarta-feira (28), aponta que o número de casos graves e de morte causadas pela gripe H1N1 no Brasil caiu entre março e julho, em todas as regiões do País.
A preliminary analysis reported this Wednesday by the Ministry of Health indicates that the number of serious and fatal cases of H1N1 in Brazil have fallen between March and July in all parts of the country.
Os dados são reunidos de acordo com semanas epidemiológicas. Na semana 10, entre 28 de fevereiro e 6 de março, o país apresentou 79 hospitalizações por conta da doença, o maior número em 2010.
The data are given by epidemiological weeks. In week 10, between February 28 and March 6, the country had 79 hospitalized H1N1 cases, the highest number in 2010.
Já na semana 28, de 11 a 17 de julho, não houve nenhum registro de internações ligadas à gripe. O ministério também destaca o mesmo padrão quanto ao número de mortes: 11 na semana entre 21 e 27 de fevereiro e nenhuma entre 4 e 17 de julho.
In week 28, July 11-17, no patients were recorded as hospitalized with flu. The ministry also noted the same pattern in the number of deaths: 11 between February 21 and 27, and none between July 4 and 17.
De acordo com o órgão, os números refletem o impacto da campanha de vacinação realizada no Brasil em 2010, que imunizou 88 milhões de pessoas contra a gripe pandêmica entre 8 de março e 2 de junho.
According to the ministry, the numbers reflect the impact of the vaccination campaign carried out in Brazil in 2010, which immunized 88 million persons against pandemic flu between March 8 and June 2.
Personally, I’m both delighted and gobsmacked by this news. We think of Brazil as samba schools and bossa nova singers. From my glimpse of São Paulo in 2002, I saw a gigantic city where they run elections on computers and the rich commute across town by helicopter. (And the tech support for a computer-based workshop is awesome.)
Still, it’s astounding to think that Brazil, with a population of over 191,000,000, could vaccinate almost half its people in less than three months.
And it’s even more astounding that our media didn’t even notice.
