Private clinics register interested parties in Covid-19 vaccine in SP

Private clinics in the city of São Paulo began to assemble lists for the application of vaccines against Covid-19.

The clinics started to receive the imported AstraZeneca immunizer this Monday (30). The price of the application of the dose must vary between R$ 300 and R$ 350, according to ABCvac (Brazilian Association of Vaccine Clinics).

Fábio Gil Affonso, one of the owners of the Vacinarte chain, with units in Lapa and Perdizes, in the west, in Tatuapé (east) and in Guarulhos, in Greater São Paulo, said that each list will have eight to ten people.

The businessman said he will only buy vaccines to offer doses when at least six lists are confirmed. There is no expectation of when immunization against Covid-19 will begin on the network.

“The problem is that a bottle, with ten doses, is valid for only 48 hours. So, if we close a group with eight doses and there are two left over, the waste will not be very big”, affirmed Affonso, noting that, by contract, the clinic has to make a minimum purchase of ten vials, valid until August.

“It’s different from the flu vaccine, which can be stored throughout the year,” he says.

According to him, the clinics are already receiving calls from people looking for information about the application of doses against Covid in the private network.

The report called this Tuesday (31) to 25 private clinics or hospitals that apply vaccines, in all regions of the city of São Paulo and ABC. None of these sites claimed to have a Covid-19 vaccine available. The attendants also did not inform about the estimated arrival date.

Two clinic staff said there was a possibility for the customer to leave the contact to be notified when the doses arrive.

At a clinic in Vila Leopoldina, in the west, the attendant said that the offer of the immunizer against Covid was not in the plans for now, due to the short validity period of the immunizer when opened.

According to the Vacinarte network, there is a demand for information on the application of the fourth dose of vaccine for people under 60 years of age, a group that is not part of the National Immunization Plan of the Ministry of Health at this stage of immunization.

According to Affonso, for the application in the public between 18 and 59 years, a medical prescription will be necessary, according to Affonso. The requirement is a recommendation from ABCVac.

In a note, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) said it does not “regulate the off-label use” of medication, that is, prescribed at the doctor’s expense and risk.

The fourth dose is not listed on the AstraZeneca vaccine package insert.

According to ABCVac, the vaccine from the private network is the same as that applied to the public, having been imported directly from the manufacturer — only the packaging is different.

AstraZeneca stated that it has about 2 million doses available for the private network, with 1 million already being distributed. The rest should arrive in the next few months.

On April 22, the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced the end of the health emergency in the country. By rule, 30 days after the decision, clinics and private companies were able to acquire vaccines against Covid-19 without the need to donate to SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde).

Until then, the private network could already acquire immunizations against Covid, but it was obliged to donate everything to the public system.

Vaccination in the private network begins despite the country having difficulties to complete the recommended cycles in the public network, with stagnant infant coverage, low booster among young people and only 10% of the elderly with the fourth dose.

According to an analysis carried out by Sheet with data from the Ministry of Health and the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), until the 24th, coverage with the first cycle –two doses or a single dose of Janssen– reached 81.5% among Brazilians aged 18 to 29 years old.

Most of them, however, did not return after four months to receive the first booster, recommended by the Ministry of Health to all adults since November last year.

In the state of São Paulo alone, until this Tuesday (31), 2.7 million people had not shown up to take the second dose of the vaccine against Covid, according to the State Health Department – ​​in the capital of São Paulo there are 677 thousand absentees. , according to the municipality.

Of the total in the state, 1.2 million children and adolescents between 5 and 12 years old did not go to the stations for the second dose, just over 40% of the expected public.

Among those who can receive boosters in the vaccination, 10 million could have already taken the third dose in the state and 3.3 million, the fourth dose.

Anyone over 12 years of age can be immunized with the third dose. The fourth, from 60 years. In both cases, the last vaccine must have been taken at least four months ago.