Dr. Reinaldo de Menezes Martins: seis décadas dedicadas à vacinação

Abstract

Dr. Reinaldo de Menezes Martins (photo: Bio-Manguinhos Communication Advisory Board/Fiocruz).Camacho Reinaldo, the purpose of this interview is to make an informal record of your long experience as a pediatrician, with an emphasis on your work in the field of vaccines.Reinaldo A recently published biography of Dr. Zilda Arns 1 presents part of my work in the field of prevention. At the time, we were attempting to implement oral rehydration therapy and facing problems with its acceptance, and even sabotage of the program [in oral rehydration therapy]. The book cites me several times because Dr. Arns and I collaborated for years. We worked mainly in the promotion of breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, preventive measures, normal delivery, and rooming-in. Immunizations were also part of this, but not as the "flagship". This is just to cite my involvement in preventive measures in general, and not only in vaccinations. Camacho When was this work with Zilda Arns?Reinaldo Mainly in the 1980s, which economists considered a lost decade. How did my personal interest in the area of prevention and vaccines get started? I did not do a medical residency, and at the time few people did. We did public admissions exams for emergency medical services, and that was how I entered public service.Camacho Was that in the 1960s? Reinaldo Yes. And I felt useless in emergency services. First, because I didn't have the aptitude to work in emergency care. In the emergency department, the person can't think much, can't stop to reflect, and that's against my nature. So, I went to work in the Fernando Magalhães maternity hospital, and later in a public primary health care unit. It was the best thing that could have happened to me, because I felt useful there. It wasn't happening in the emergency department, which was immediate, medical care for symptoms only, which didn't solve anything. In the health post, I discovered that something could be done. I went to work in Gamboa, which was one of the poorest favelas in Rio de Janeiro, an area with a destitute population 2 . I treated young people at a youth shelter there. And they had no money. It was useless to write prescriptions. I was very frustrated at first, too, when I thought to myself, "What am I going to do here?! Am I going to distribute milk?!" So, there was milk there to distribute, and it worked as a strategy to vaccinate. We distributed milk, with vaccination as the condition.Camacho Which vaccines were available at the health units at that time?