Paquetá vaccinated and censused: strategies and results of the partnership between the SUS and the IBGE during a pandemic period due to COVID-19

Eternalized in Brazil in the novel “A Moreninha” by Joaquim Manuel Macedo, Paquetá Island is a quiet neighborhood in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021, the Municipal Health Department of Rio de Janeiro invited Fiocruz to carry out a seroepidemiological survey on the island, which later, in October 2021, assisted the IBGE in carrying out the pre-test for the Demographic Census. This article aims to describe the main results of both surveys, highlighting conceptual issues in the dialogue between primary health care (PHC) and the IBGE’s methodological definitions. The results showed the importance of vaccination for planning health surveillance actions and were decisive for carrying out the Pre-Test of the 2022 Census, insofar as it allowed for the homologation of equipment and systems. One of the main differences between the surveys was the method used to count the population. For the family health teams in PHC, any resident is counted and registered, while for the IBGE, only those living in occupied homes for habitual use are counted, disregarding homes for occasional use, creating the concept of the registration paradox in PHC.