OBJECTIVE:
to evaluate the Brazilian influenza vaccination strategy's safety and effectiveness.
METHODS:
systematic review of scientific literature. The keywords "influenza", "Brazil", "vaccine", "vaccine coverage", "effectiveness", and "adverse events" were used to search the following databases for the period 1999-2013: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, US National Library of Medicine, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências Sociais, Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Scientific Electronic Library Online, and Google Scholar.
RESULTS:
784 publications were retrieved. 73 were included in the study after applying the exclusion criteria. Vaccine coverage is high, although lower than registered on the information system. Ecological studies on influenza-related mortality and hospitalizations provide conflicting estimates, some pointing to a reduction (16 articles) and others to an increase (4 articles) in the rates after vaccine introduction.
CONCLUSION:
studies suggest that the vaccine is safe and effective, although the reduction in influenza-related mortality and hospitalizations was modest.
Influenza; Influenza Vaccines; Effectiveness; Immunization Coverage; Review
