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SAO PAULO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro state plans to vaccinate its entire population against yellow fever as a precaution amid Brazil's largest outbreak of the disease in years.
The Health Ministry has confirmed more than 300 cases of yellow fever so far during Brazil's summer rainy season. Over 100 of them died. Much of Brazil is considered at risk for the mosquito-borne disease and people in those areas are supposed to be vaccinated.
Rio state was not in that at-risk area for this outbreak and it has not had any cases. But the World Health Organization expanded its vaccination recommendation to include parts of the state in January.
The state said Saturday it expects to reach a 90 percent vaccination rate this year. It will need 12 million vaccine doses to do that.
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