City of São Paulo has almost 1 million without a 2nd dose of vaccine against Covid

The number of people without the second dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 in the city of São Paulo reaches almost 1 million absentees, according to the city of São Paulo.

In all, according to the Municipal Health Department, 773,496 adults had not taken the second dose of the vaccine until this Friday (24), a figure that is only increasing — on the last day, there were about 593 thousand people over 18 years of age.

Another 210,862 teenagers from 12 to 17 years old complete the list of those who have not returned to health centers in São Paulo today.

The total number of people who could have received the second dose but are without, of all ages 12 and up, is approximately 984,000 people. The vaccination of children under 11 years of age has not yet been authorized by the Ministry of Health.

In general numbers, 23.6 million vaccines against Covid-19 were applied in the city. The city considers that the entire estimated adult public is immunized, despite the nearly 800,000 people who did not show up to take the second dose.

In the case of adolescents, according to the secretariat’s bulletin, 84.9% were vaccinated with two doses. From early November, young people aged 12 to 17 years can complete the vaccination.

Also according to data from the folder, about 1.8 million adults are able to receive the third dose. The secretariat prefers not to call this group lacking “because it is a boost in vaccination”.

Currently, all people over 18 years old who took the second dose at least four months ago can have the booster with Pfizer vaccine.

According to the most recent bulletin, 29.9% of the expected audience —almost 2.8 million people— received the boost until Christmas Eve.

For infectologist Jamal Suleiman, from Instituto Emílio Ribas, people run unnecessary risks. “In addition to the second dose, it is necessary to have a booster, mainly to protect against the omicron variant”, he says. The city of São Paulo currently has 17 cases of the new strain of coronavirus — there are another three confirmed in the state.

The concern is similar to that of Álvaro Furtado da Costa, an infectious disease specialist at the USP Hospital das Clínicas (University of São Paulo). According to him, the percentage of people who do not have both doses is extremely dangerous.

The specialist says that the municipality needs to do work to find these people and motivate them to take the second and third doses. “It is a population contingent that is at risk of catching omicrons or the severe form of the disease”, he says.

Suleiman reinforces. On the one hand, he says, the municipal government is not having the legs to go after these absentees, through an active search. And on the other hand, he says, the federal government does not campaign in this sense.

In a statement, the Municipal Health Department says that the agency has been actively seeking to complete the vaccination schedule for the public eligible for vaccination against Covid in the capital and that it is trying to understand the causes of the absence, which can range from a change of address, to waiting for a companion to go to the vaccination site and even forgetting.

“The secretariat extracts from the VaciVida system the list of people who have not yet received the second dose of the immunizing agent”, says the folder. After that, he says, the georeferencing between the person’s address and the nearest UBS (Basic Health Unit) is carried out and, then, the professionals at the medical center get in touch to advise on the importance of correct vaccination, in addition to verifying the reasons of abstention.

“The folder has teams from the Family Health Strategy Program and house-to-house visits for this effort.”

in parks

Vaccination against Covid-19 and against the flu this Sunday (26), in São Paulo, will be concentrated in two pharmacies on Avenida Paulista, in the central region, and in six parks in all regions of the city.

According to the secretariat, it is not necessary to have an interval between them and it is possible to take both vaccines, against Covid-19 and against the flu, on the same day.

See where to get the vaccine this Sunday in the city of São Paulo

From 8am to 4pm

Pharmacies

Avenida Paulista 2,371 and 266

Parks

CRS Downtown: Buenos Aires Park (downtown)
CRS Sul: Guarapiranga Park (south zone)
CRS East: Parque do Carmo (eastern zone)
CRS Oeste: Villa-Lobos Park (west area)
CRS Southeast: Independence Park (South Zone)
CRS North: Youth Park (northern area)