The production of immunobiological vaccines should be recognized by the federal government as a strategic activity for the country and should be ruled by a national planning program that would create the means to guarantee competitive conditions to the national pharmaceutical industry. These are the points stressed out during this interview with medical doctor João Baptista Risi Júnior, one of the highest authorities in epidemiology in Brazil. Born in Niterói, Risi Júnior is a vast human archive on the history of immunization in the country. From 1968 to 1970, he coordinated the Campanha de Erradicação da Varíola (Smallpox Erradication Campaign) in Rio de Janeiro State. From 1974 to 1979, he was the head of SESP Foundation Epidemiology Department. From 1980 to 1988, Risi Júnior was the national secretary of Ação Básica de Saúde (Basic Health Actions) and twice (1992 and 1999), Vigilância Sanitária (Sanitary Watch) national secretary. As the authority he unquestionably is, Risi Júnior refuses to place 'natinal vaccination day' strategy apart from the claim for permanent, integral, universal and decentralized health services. Risi, the current representative of Brazil in the Pan-American Health Organization, strongly recommends the investment of all available resources and the interaction between a centralized administration, which is necessary for the development of standards throughout continental Brazil, and decentralized local actions, which is part of SUS priorities. Interviewed by Carlos Fidelis Ponte, he greatly criticized institutional instability and administrative discontinuity, which according to him are due to the disregarding of historical experiences. If they were taken into account, those experiences would help to diminish the mistakes and multiply the good results of public health services. After all, these mistakes and good results make a difference to human lives.
vaccine; smallpox; polyomyelitis; CEME; Fundação SESP; prevention; immunization; campaign; health
