98% want the Covid vaccine to remain free for everyone, says Datafolha

A Datafolha survey shows that 98% of Brazilians advocate that the federal government continue to provide the vaccine against Covid-19 free of charge in the SUS to the entire population of the country in 2023.

The percentages of those who want universal access to the vaccine are between 96% and 99% in all regions, age groups, race, education and income levels.

The only exception, albeit with a small variation, is in the group with an income above ten times the minimum wage: 6% of respondents say that the government should not provide the vaccine for free.

The survey was carried out on the 25th and 26th of May. There were 2,556 interviews in 181 municipalities with people aged 16 and over. The margin of error is two points up or down.

Although it has not yet been defined how the vaccination against Covid will be next year, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, has been signaling the possibility that, in the future, the immunizer will be destined only for priority groups, such as pregnant women, the elderly and professionals. of health.

Healthy adults would receive surplus vaccines in the public network. The design would follow the line of routine campaigns, such as the flu.

“At the moment, the priority is to advance in the 1st and 2nd booster doses. The Ômicron variants have a greater vaccine escape, but even so, vaccination protects against hospitalization, severe cases and deaths. We still don’t have all the elements to define the strategy of 2023 vaccination, but we still have doses of vaccines,” Queiroga told Sheet.

This week, private clinics in São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte began to offer the imported AstraZeneca immunizer. The application price should vary between R$ 300 and R$ 350 per dose, according to ABCvac (Brazilian Association of Vaccine Clinics).

The DPSP group, owner of Drogarias Pacheco and São Paulo, also announced the start of the private sale of vaccine against Covid in chain pharmacies starting this weekend. The doses should cost R$ 229.

According to Renato Kfouri, director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIn), the scenario for the next year in relation to Covid is still uncertain, but the expectation is that it will become a seasonal virus, and that only priority groups will continue to be eligible for immunization in the country. SUS.

“In the post-pandemic period, universal vaccination would be meaningless. You don’t vaccinate the entire planet against the flu or other respiratory diseases such as meningitis. In no disease do you vaccinate the entire world population.”

But for him, this post-pandemic period is still far from happening. “In the best moment we’ve had so far, there are 100, 110 deaths a day in Brazil, more than 3,000 a month. We’re not talking about a banal disease. We have a long Covid. Letting so many people get infected, even if not serious, what price are we going to pay? We are still learning to build this long-term pact.”

The doctor says that, in the face of this unpredictable scenario, it is not possible to rule out, for example, the emergence of new variants as transmissible as the omicron, which would undermine any prediction made for 2023.

According to Kfouri, one of the great challenges for public management is budget forecasting. “What do we buy vaccine? Buy it and throw it away if you don’t use it? Buy vaccine A, B and C and if later a better vaccine arrives for the new variant? There’s a lot of risk involved.”

A member of the committee that advises the Ministry of Health on the design of the immunization strategy against Covid-19, the doctor says that technical discussions on vaccination against Covid in 2023 have already started, but, for now, there is no definition.

In the opinion of Nésio Fernandes de Medeiros Junior, president of Conass (National Council of Health Secretaries), despite the unpredictable scenario, decisions on vaccination next year in the SUS must involve the entire population, not just priority groups.

“The guarantee of vaccination for the entire population, with annual booster doses, needs to be discussed with great responsibility by the health authorities. We are not talking about a disease that only killed people with comorbidities. Many without comorbidities and not elderly died from Covid-19. 19,” he says.

“Even without updating a second technological generation of vaccines, the current ones are enough to stimulate an adequate immune response and guarantee the reduction of the risk of hospitalizations and deaths”, he adds.

According to epidemiologist Ethel Maciel, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, the idea is for the vaccine to be incorporated into the PNI (National Immunization Program), but it is still necessary to wait for the remodeling of immunizers and monitor the evolution of the virus itself to see if mutations will emerge that escape the protection afforded by current vaccines.

“What we need is for Brazil to have a plan, a budget for the purchase of these vaccines. We always have to prepare for the worst scenario and, eventually, have to vaccinate everyone again. If it doesn’t happen, all the better.”

In the opinion of health doctor Claudio Maierovitch, from Fiocruz Brasília, the high support for the offer of the vaccine against Covid by the SUS captured by Datafolha has to do with the confidence of the Brazilian population in relation to the immunization program. “There is still a culture in Brazil that if a vaccine is good and works, it has to be offered by the SUS.”

The survey also measured the assessment of the government of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in handling the biggest health emergency in recent history. The results show that there were no fluctuations in relation to the previous survey, in March.

The share of respondents who consider it great or good remained at 28%. For 46%, the performance is bad or terrible, oscillating within the margin of error compared to the previous survey, when the index was 48%.

The approval rate for Bolsonaro’s performance in the pandemic is highest among respondents aged 60 and over (33%), then drops in the previous age groups until it reaches 17% among 16-24 year olds. The maximum margin of error in these two extracts is four and five percentage points, respectively.

The president’s highest approval rating was among respondents with a monthly family income above ten minimum wages: 42%, against 25% among those earning up to two minimum wages. Among the regions, the Midwest leads in the approval rate: 36% against 20% in the Northeast. The maximum margin of error in these extracts ranged between 3 and 11 percentage points.