The new secretary of Health and Environment Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel, said this Friday (6) that there is a lack of vaccine against Covid-19 for children aged six months to 11 years. The folder’s intention is to anticipate the contract with Pfizer and resume the Coronavac contract with the Butantan Institute.
“With this shortage [vacina infantil], we had a meeting with Pfizer and we are going to solve the delivery problem. We have 4.2 million doses that can be delivered to the public from 6 months to 4 years. We will try to negotiate better, but the forecast is for the end of January. Let’s try to move forward, “she said.
Ethel added that she intends to reinstate the contract with the Butantan Institute to help resolve the vaccine shortage problem.
“We have the Butantan contract paralyzed, we received the government with the contract paralyzed. We are negotiating because the Coronavac is fundamental for us to accelerate the supply of states and municipalities, especially in the public from 3 years onwards”, he highlighted.
The Ministry of Health now recommends a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 for children aged 5 to 11 years. Until then, the folder indicated the third application only from 12 years.
According to the technical note, the recommendation is due to the reduction of the immune response to vaccines and the circulation of new variants in a scenario where the vaccine coverage considered adequate for children has not yet been achieved.
Ethel added that vaccines for adults are not in short supply, however, it is not yet certain that there will be an indication of yet another booster dose for all ages. Such as Sheet he said, what has already been defined is that the vaccine for the risk group will enter the annual calendar.
In the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the vaccine was not part of the annual vaccination schedule and was only incorporated into the PNO (National Plan for the Operationalization of Vaccination against Covid-19).
“What we consider minimum for effectiveness are three doses, the two initial doses and at least one booster. The second or third booster was necessary, depending on the severity of the disease,” he said.
She said in the interview with Folha that the Covid vaccination for the risk group could take place in April along with the flu vaccine. However, because of the new variant, they are considering anticipating this dose.
The first case of the XBB.1.5 variant of the coronavirus, considered the most transmissible so far by the WHO (World Health Organization), was identified in a sample of the virus in São Paulo.
The sample, which was collected on November 9 from a 54-year-old patient in Indaiatuba (103 kilometers from the capital), was sequenced by the Dasa Integrated Health Network this Wednesday (4).
It was the only case identified out of a total of 1,330 samples sequenced in the month of November, of which 33 were from the XBB subline of omicron.
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