Brazil arrived, this Thursday (28), at 70.49% of the adult population with a complete vaccination schedule against Covid. That is, among people aged 18 or over, 7 out of 10 have already taken two doses of the vaccine or the single-dose immunizing agent.
Last week, on October 20, the country reached another encouraging milestone: more than 50% of the total population with the complete vaccination schedule. Another recent achievement, on October 13, was to reach the number of more than 100 million people fully immunized.
Now, added the second doses and the single dose immunizations, the country closes this Thursday with 114,253,388 people with the completed scheme.
On this Thursday, 269,794 first doses, 936,087 seconds, 4,387 single doses and 366,125 booster applications were recorded.
Among other figures, the country has 72.32% of the population with one dose (154,265,235 people) and 53.56% with a complete vaccination schedule.
It is important to remember, however, that immunization is only considered effective two weeks after the application of the second dose, as experts warn.
Country data, collected up to 8 pm, are the result of collaboration between sheet, UOL, O Estado de S. Paulo, Extra, O Globo and G1 to gather and disseminate the numbers related to the new coronavirus pandemic. The information is collected by the consortium of press vehicles daily with the state Health Departments.
The numbers achieved in recent weeks contrast with the problems that vaccination against Covid faced in Brazil at the beginning of the campaign, such as lack of doses and delays. The high adherence to the immunization program also differs from the stance taken by President Jair Bolsonaro (no party), who did not get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The mandatory, in addition, has raised doubts several times about the importance and safety of the products. Last week, Bolsonaro even linked the Covid vaccine with the development of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS — which is false. The video in which he made this speech was, days later, deleted by Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
“The numbers are obviously very good”, summarizes Renato Kfouri, pediatrician and director of SBIm (Brazilian Society of Immunizations). According to him, the expectation is that, by the end of the year, 100% of the country’s population will have taken the first dose and more than 90% will be fully immunized.
“Let’s pass everyone”, completes the expert. He recalls that some countries, such as the United States, previously reached high percentages of the vaccinated population, but now they are struggling to advance further.
Currently, the US has 69% of the adult population with a complete vaccination schedule, according to data from the CDC (US Center for Disease Control and Prevention). The 60%, however, has already been reached for a long time, since the 25th of July. In comparison, Brazil reached 60% exactly 20 days ago, on October 8th.
The US faces strong distrust and vaccine rejection. Even public people have openly refused the vaccine and, with it, even impacted the work they do. One of the best-known examples is the player of the NBA, the American professional basketball league, Kyrie Irving, one of the stars of the Brooklyn Nets. The team kept the shipowner away until he got vaccinated.
In Brazil, vaccination against Covid is trusted by a large part of the population. According to a Datafolha survey, 94% of people adhere to the vaccine.
But despite the recent positive milestones, reinforces Kfouri, the pandemic is not over and care remains essential. The use of masks, with special attention to closed places, without ventilation, should be maintained, evaluates the physician.
The warning not to let down one’s guard comes from specialists and from recent experiences in other countries, which have started to face problems again, especially after the expansion of the delta variant. Israel, for example, with vaccination already considerably advanced, began to make the use of masks more flexible, even for closed environments. With the growth of infections, because of the delta, however, the country had to back down from its plans.
Kfouri also points out that one of the challenges at the moment for Brazil is to reach the part of the population that has delayed second doses.
Added to this, it is worth remembering that the so-called complete vaccination schedule (of two doses or a single dose) has recently been shown to be incomplete in some places. That’s because, over the months, a drop in vaccine protection levels was noticed — something that was not surprising to scientists.
Thus, the need for booster doses was verified. Brazil currently offers these injections for people over 60, health professionals and people with immunity problems.
Considering the 7,825,324 booster doses applied so far, this represents about 20% of vaccination coverage for publics of people over 60 and health professionals.
The more transmissible delta variant, first detected in India, has also turned the idea of herd immunity into a more distant reality in the world.
According to the director of SBim, offering booster doses for the elderly is the most important at this time, considering the fading of vaccine protection and the greater chance of death and hospitalization as the age group progresses.
“Attention must be given to this group that is losing protection and it must be insisted that coverage must be high in the most vulnerable. These must be adequately protected while we have high circulation of the virus,” says the expert.
DEATHS
This Thursday, 399 deaths by Covid and 15,054 cases of the disease were also recorded. The country has thus reached 607,125 lives lost since the beginning of the pandemic and 21,780,474 people infected with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The moving averages of deaths and cases, on the other hand, remain stable, with no variation greater than 15%, compared to data from two weeks ago. The averages are now 337 deaths a day and 11,986 daily infections.
The initiative of the consortium of press vehicles took place in response to the attitudes of the Jair Bolsonaro (non-party) government, which threatened to withhold data, delayed bulletins about the disease and took information off the air, with the interruption of the dissemination of the totals of cases and deaths. In addition, the government released conflicting data.
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