Saúde releases fourth dose of vaccine against Covid for immunosuppressed

The Ministry of Health authorized the fourth dose of vaccine against Covid-19 for immunosuppressed, starting this Monday (20).

The folder’s technical note cites, among other things, the emergence of the omicron variant, “already diagnosed in several continents, already with community transmission in São Paulo”.

“A booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine for all immunocompromised individuals over 18 years of age who received three doses in the primary regimen (two doses and an additional dose), which should be administered from 4 months onwards”, says the note. Ministry’s technical staff.

Included in this category, according to the folder, are people living with HIV; hemodialysis patients; undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer; with chronic inflammatory immune-mediated diseases; solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT) use of immunosuppressive drugs; among others.

The same note from the ministry also confirms the intention of minister Marcelo Queiroga, announced at the weekend, to bring the booster dose for people over 18 years old forward from five to four months.

“A booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for all individuals over 18 years of age, which should be administered from 4 months after the last dose of the vaccine schedule (second dose), regardless of the immunizing agent applied. The vaccine to be used for the booster dose should preferably be from the messenger RNA platform (Comirnaty/Pfizer) or, alternatively, the viral vector vaccine (Janssen or AstraZeneca)”, says the text.

The announcement was made by the minister on social media on Saturday (18). According to him, the objective is to expand protection against the omicron variant.

“The booster dose is essential to stop the advance of new variants and reduce hospitalizations and deaths, especially in risk groups,” he said in his Twitter profile.