In 1987, Brazil was experiencing a complicated epidemiological scenario. Diseases such as measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, diphtheria and polio, which are now considered controlled, were on the rise in cases, and vaccines were not yet traditional in the country.
To try to convince the population to engage in immunization, Zé Gotinha emerged. Designed by plastic artist Darlan Rosa, the character represented the new immunizer in drops once morest polio.
Professor Wildo Navegantes de Araújo, from the Department of Public Health at the University of Brasília (UnB), recalls that, before the implementation of Zé Gotinha, the health-related communication process faced a certain “tiredness”, and the main message was that those who don’t get vaccinated die. “This negative reflection was worrying. With the creation of the character, this perspective was completely changed”, explains the professor.
“The idea was for vaccination to become more playful, and for people to understand that it was everyone’s social commitment. The intention was to turn immunization into a day of celebration”, adds the vice president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIM), Renato Kfouri.
That year’s campaign was a success. With the help of the character, the country managed to surpass the mark of 95% of the target population immunized, enough to completely remove the threat of polio from the Brazilian territory.
“We had tremendous support from society, people came to vaccinate their children. Zé Gotinha gained another dimension, as his image began to be linked to the routine vaccine campaign”, explains Araújo.
Zé Gotinha not only became part of the vaccine experience, he even gained a family: in 2021, the population was introduced to Dona Gotinha (grandmother), Seu Gotinha (grandfather), Gotinha Jr. (son) and Maria Gotinha (wife), with the aim of encouraging the immunization of other groups.
modern challenge
Despite not having been as present during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government returned to bet on Zé Gotinha in 2023 — the character was even in Sapucaí, opening the Carnival parades. However, the mission is now more complicated. Most vaccine-preventable diseases are “under control”, but the country has seen vaccine coverage rates plummeting in recent years.
Immunologists point out that, today, vaccines are victims of their own success. They work so well that the diseases disappear, and without the threat, without having visible cases, people don’t think immunization is necessary.
“It is paradoxical. I think that Zé Gotinha can contribute to greater adherence, but the scenario is now different, the droplet is virtual and the news is transmitted much faster. Even so, the character is a very important agent, who does not solve anything alone, but needs to be in the digital scenario so that parents are impacted, as well as children and adolescents”, explains Kfouri.
Araújo clarifies that, for the character to make a difference, society needs to be mobilized, with several massive educational campaigns and a budget consistent with the mission of maintaining the health of the population.
“Zé Gotinha symbolizes one of the great health programs in Brazil, which is free vaccination, universally available for the majority of the Brazilian population. As in the past it attracted and mobilized the playful activities of children and families, yes, linked to a good educational and communication campaign, it can once once more be the character that favors the adhesion of parents and children”, says Araújo.
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