The Ministry of Health asked the team led by Paulo Guedes (Economy) to increase R$ 1.4 billion in the 2021 Budget to guarantee the purchase of 100 million vaccines from Pfizer for the campaign against Covid-19 of 2022.
The immunizing agent is one of the government’s bets to control the pandemic next year, as it can be used in adolescents, is under analysis for children and serves as a booster dose for those who received other vaccine models.
The request must be on the agenda of the next meeting of the JEO (Board of Budget Execution). Guedes’ portfolio signaled that it will add the budget to the Health budget, according to government officials.
The extra resource, which must be within the spending ceiling — a rule that limits the increase in public spending — would be used to pay 20% in advance of the R$ 7 billion contract with Pfizer, an imposition by the pharmaceutical in negotiating for doses.
Now at the center of government actions, Pfizer’s vaccine has already been treated with disdain and distrust by President Jair Bolsonaro (no party), who pointed out as abusive the pharmaceutical company’s demands to sell to Brazil.
Wanted, the Ministries of Economy and Health did not respond.
The amount needed to guarantee the purchase of the vaccine is registered in a document on the estimate of mandatory Health expenses, sent by the team of Minister Marcelo Queiroga (Health) to the Economy and obtained by sheet.
The Ministry of Health estimates it will need 340 million doses of Covid vaccines by 2022.
The idea is to take advantage of the leftover 134.9 million units from 2021. In addition, prioritize the purchase of two models of immunizing agents.
The forecast is to acquire 100 million doses from Pfizer, with the possibility of extending the contract and buying another 50 million. The folder also targets the purchase of 120 million AstraZeneca units, with a chance of contracting another 60 million.
The ministry also plans to vaccinate children against the new coronavirus next year. The forecast is that 70 million doses are destined for this audience.
The planning of this stage of the campaign depends on the approval of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) to apply doses to younger people. The agency received a request from Pfizer to immunize the group aged 5 to 11 years.
Queiroga’s team also decided to release the booster dose of Covid-19 to all people aged 18 and over. The application of the new injection will be made five months after the basic vaccination schedule.
The boost in vaccination is the government’s bet to prevent a further advance of the disease at the beginning of 2022.
Queiroga will also promote an event on Saturday (20), called Mega Vaccination, to look for people who still need to take the second dose, have not been vaccinated or can already receive an additional injection.
The minister said on Tuesday (16) that there are guaranteed doses for next year.
“All [doses] are guaranteed [para o próximo ano]. There is a remainder of 134 million, but with this measure that we anticipate, it will decrease [o excedente] but it will also reduce the need to apply it next year,” he said.
“Regarding 2022 we are completely safe, contrary to what is said that the ministry does not plan, if the ministry did not plan it would not be in the situation we are in here,” Queiroga said.
The resource for a new purchase of the Pfizer vaccine must remain within the spending ceiling, which may require the reallocation of expenses from other folders to Health.
Without going into details, the Health said in the note sent to the Economy that a request for extraordinary credit, that is, outside the ceiling, would depend on the analysis “of the evolution of the epidemiological scenario”.
The government already assessed that the drop in cases, deaths and hospitalizations by Covid-19 would reduce the demand for credits of this type. In addition, Health tries to include the expenses of the immunization campaign within the regular budget.
In addition to the reinforcement to buy the vaccine from Pfizer, Health is asking for around R$ 45 million to cover expenses with logistics for the delivery of vaccines and primary care actions.
The Health budget rose from R$ 142.6 billion to R$ 191.5 billion during the year precisely because of expenses related to the pandemic.
as showed the sheet, the Queiroga folder has already signaled that it may need up to R$6.8 billion in 2022 to add new groups to the vaccination plan. There are only R$3.9 billion reserved in the Budget project for the purchase of Covid-19’s immunization agents.
The budget for Covid vaccines in 2021 exceeded R$27 billion, not considering the current request for credit to guarantee Pfizer’s 2022 doses.
Queiroga also wants to transfer part of the expenses of the vaccination campaign to the private sector, demanding reimbursement from health plan operators for customers who receive doses in the SUS, but the ANS (National Agency for Supplementary Health) is against.
The government is also betting that the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatório can expand by up to R$ 15 billion the expenditure limit for Covid’s vaccination campaign, among other actions.
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