Rio says it did not receive enough doses and delays childhood vaccination

The City Hall of Rio de Janeiro suspended this Tuesday (18) the vaccination of 10-year-old children, which was scheduled to start on Thursday (20). Management stated that the number of pediatric doses received is insufficient to follow the schedule.

“Only with the arrival of new shipments will it be possible to advance the vaccination schedule for 10-year-old girls and boys”, says the Municipal Health Department. According to the ministry, 33,950 doses were received, an amount below what the capital of Rio de Janeiro needs to evolve in the campaign.

As long as it does not receive the remittances, the city government says it will keep the repechage of 11-year-olds, the public that opened the immunization of the age group from 5 to 11 years in Rio. In the capital of Rio de Janeiro, the schedule was organized by age, starting with the oldest of the group.

The vaccination of children began this Monday (17) in the city and, according to the schedule, would extend until February 9. However, with the suspension, it is likely that the immunization of this public will last longer than expected.

The city of Rio estimates that 560,000 children are vaccinated with Pfizer immunizers, the only ones authorized so far for childhood vaccination.

Last Friday (14), the state received 93,500 doses of Pfizer to immunize children. According to the government, the goal is to vaccinate 1.5 million children across the state.

The delay in the vaccination schedule in Rio comes at a time when the capital of Rio de Janeiro is witnessing a worsening of its epidemiological indicators. The number of patients with Covid hospitalized in the public network jumped from 338 on Friday (14) to 751 in the late afternoon of this Tuesday.

Sought by the report, the capital of São Paulo said that it does not consider stopping the vaccination of children. The Municipal Health Department reported that it has already received two batches of Pfizer’s pediatric immunizer.

The first contained 64,090 doses — of the total, 6,663 were given on Monday. The second batch, which arrived this Tuesday, contains 74,730 doses, which continue the vaccination of children with comorbidities, disabilities, and indigenous and quilombolas — unlike Rio, the capital of São Paulo decided to start with the priority groups defined by the Ministry of Health.

In the city of Rio de Janeiro, attention is also drawn to the increase in the number of people hospitalized in ICUs, which rose from 25 on the 8th to 269 this Monday (17th).

The rate of positive tests in the city has also grown: it is at 53%, a value that was 13% at the end of December. Specialists attribute this scenario to the presence of the ômicron variant, a strain that is dominant in the city.

The surge in cases of the disease made the state and the municipality decide to cancel elective surgeries, those considered non-emergency, for 30 days.

The measure took effect from this Monday and was determined due to the removal of health professionals and the high risk of contamination.

The worsening epidemiological situation in the city also forced Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD) to cancel the street Carnival in Rio. The party at the Sambódromo is still uncertain. The city’s scientific committee will meet next week to decide the course of the event.