Coronavac should only be used in children and adolescents, announces Queiroga

With the end of the health emergency, the use of the Coronavac vaccine against Covid-19 should be restricted to children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 years. The change was announced this Monday morning (18) by the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, in an interview in Brasília.

The Ministry of Health requested that Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) authorize for another year for this public the emergency use of Coronavac, a vaccine by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac produced in Brazil in partnership with the Butantan Institute, even with the end of the health emergency.

The folder did not include the primary regimen in adults in the order. The regulatory agency has yet to approve this request.

According to Queiroga, the ordinance with this change will be published until Wednesday (20) and will have a period of 30 days to come into force.

“It has not yet been possible to collect enough scientific evidence for this immunizing agent to [Coronavac] had the final record. For the vaccination schedule in adults, this immunizer, I think and it is a consensus in countries that have regulatory agencies like Anvisa, it is not used for the primary vaccination schedule. It is used for the primary vaccination schedule in Brazil for the age group between 5 and 18 years old,” the minister said on Monday.

Queiroga explained that the adult who still needs to complete the primary regimen, however, can take the immunizing agent.

The minister declared on the night of this Sunday (17), in a radio and TV chain, the end of the health emergency caused by Covid-19. In his speech, he highlighted federal investments in the pandemic and offered solidarity to the victims of the disease.

Since February, the minister has been publicly addressing the matter. Behind the scenes, Palácio do Planalto has been pushing for the measure, as President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) will run for reelection. In addition, Queiroga expected to be recognized as the manager that ended the health crisis in Brazil.

“Thanks to the improvement in the epidemiological scenario, the wide vaccination coverage of the population and the capacity of SUS assistance, we are today able to announce the end of the public health emergency of national importance, Espin. this decision”, said the minister, in a statement.

​The so-called Espin (Public Health Emergency of National Importance) ) supports the emergency use of vaccines, purchases without bidding and other rules related to the pandemic.

​In the Ministry of Health alone, 170 rules can be impacted with the end of the health emergency. The minister stressed, at a press conference, that the rules will not be impacted.

Among the most sensitive is the authorization of emergency use of vaccines and medicines. Pfizer, Janssen and AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines are already definitively registered and therefore should not be impacted by the end of the health emergency.

Since its inception, the Covid-19 pandemic has officially caused the death of more than 660,000 Brazilians. Bolsonaro has always been a critic of the measures advocated by the World Health Organization, alleging more serious harm with the paralysis of the economy, and has encouraged denialist speeches and practices for several months, including the use of drugs that have been proven to be ineffective against the disease.

Queiroga and Bolsonaro even promised to end the pandemic in Brazil and declared that Covid-19 had become an endemic disease. “As of the beginning of next month, with the decision of the Minister of Health to put an end to the pandemic, we must return to normality in Brazil”, said the president in March.

The plan was to reinforce the version that the government has overcome the health crisis, in addition to discouraging the use of masks and other protective measures against the virus.

As Folha showed, Queiroga modulated his speech when he was alerted by assistants that he has no power to end the pandemic — the task is only up to the WHO (World Health Organization).

The minister would only be able to revoke Espin. This would be the main way to empty restrictions against Covid.

Health then began to aim at the end of rules that are considered unnecessary at the moment,

Some are independent of Espin. The federal government has already recommended dispensing with the use of masks in work environments in states and municipalities with a “low” or “moderate” number of Covid cases.

The changes were made in a joint ordinance of the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health.

Queiroga has even been working without a mask at the Ministry of Health since March. The minister stopped using the protection as a result of the decree of Governor Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), which made its use more flexible in the Federal District.

By rule, the mask is no longer mandatory in open and closed places. Other states and municipalities have also implemented the flexibility.

The government implemented the state of emergency in public health on February 4, 2020. This measure can occur in cases of epidemiological emergencies (such as the coronavirus), disasters and lack of assistance to the population.

Since then, a series of actions have been taken, such as the approval of the emergency use of a vaccine for the first time in the country, which took place in January 2021.

In addition, there were contracts without bidding and the issuance of extraordinary credits, which are not included within the expenditure ceiling.

In May 2021, Secovid (Extraordinary Secretariat to Combat Covid-19) was created, by means of a decree, to coordinate actions during the public health emergency. In practice, it loses its function if the health emergency ends.