Covid affects 12 of 26 flights for vaccine delivery to children, says government

The director of the Ministry of Health’s logistics department, General Ridauto Fernandes, said this Friday (14) that 12 of the 26 flights scheduled to distribute pediatric doses of Pfizer’s vaccine were canceled or changed, some due to cases of Covid-19. 19.

“We also have a problem with the logistics network, we are experiencing a moment in which many changes are taking place. We have scheduled 26 flights. From yesterday to today, throughout the night, the flights were being changed. canceled flights, flights changed schedules by the companies. We had 12 flights that were changed”, Fernandes informed during a meeting held this morning.

The secretary cited the flight to Piauí as an example, but it had to be canceled because the crew was diagnosed with Covid-19.

The delivery of the childhood vaccine is made by Latam, free of charge, through the Solidarity Plane program. According to the company, the flights mentioned by the secretary were a forecast. The company’s estimate is to complete the delivery this evening. The last state to receive the dose must be Acre, at 21:50.

The latest government update informs that, by 1:00 pm, 13 states had already received the vaccine: Amazonas, Maranhão, Rondônia, Tocantins, Pará, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Ceará, Pernambuco and Minas Gerais.

The Ministry of Health also guarantees that all states will receive doses of the vaccine within 48 hours.

Last Thursday morning (13), Brazil received the first batch of pediatric vaccines against Covid. The cargo with 1.2 million doses of Pfizer immunizers arrived at Viracopos Airport, in Campinas (SP), at 4:38 am.

The distribution is made according to the population criterion, that is, it will be proportional to the population of children in each state and in the Federal District.

The first child vaccinated against Covid-19 in Brazil was the indigenous boy Davi Seremramiwe Xavante, 8 years old. He received the vaccine this morning, during a ceremony in the auditorium of Hospital das Clínicas, in central São Paulo.

With a genetic problem, Davi has difficulty walking and now wears an orthosis.

Pfizer’s pediatric vaccines will be given to children ages 5 to 11. Immunization will begin with children with comorbidity, permanent disability, indigenous people and quilombolas. Next, the Ministry of Health recommends that children living with people in risk groups be vaccinated.

After that, there will be a scaling by age group, starting with the oldest.

According to the Ministry of Health, the government managed to anticipate a new batch with 1.2 million doses of pediatric vaccines against Covid-19. The new shipment is expected to arrive in Brazil on Sunday (16). Until January 27, another batch with 1.8 million doses should arrive in Brazil.