Vaccination against Covid in adults is stagnant and worries, says Fiocruz

Vaccination of adults against Covid-19 is stagnant and adherence to the third dose is going through a slowdown, says Fiocruz in a new bulletin released this Thursday (19). The foundation says that this situation is worrying, mainly because vaccination is the main tool in controlling the pandemic at this time of suspension of the mandatory use of masks.

The foundation carried out analyzes on immunization against the coronavirus in the country and divided adherence to the first and second dose campaigns into five phases. For the third dose, the institution observed three periods of adherence.

In the case of the first dose, the best interval was from June to September 2021, where there was an average growth of 3% in applications each week. The worst period observed is the current one, which began in February and registers an average increase of 0.3% per week. Although with some variations, data from single doses or second doses resemble the model seen in the first applications.

As for the third dose, the first phase had a slow growth and lasted until December. Then, the second phase began with improvements in adherence (2.62% growth per week) that lasted until February. Since then, there has been a drop in adherence to booster vaccinations.

“The recommendation, therefore, is to keep special attention to this indicator, as this compromises the advancement of complete vaccination coverage in the population”, says the foundation.

Another aspect of alert concerns the elderly. It was observed that hospitalizations for Covid of this public are higher when compared to adults under 60 years old. Fiocruz suggests that, as this public was vaccinated in early 2021, vaccine-induced immunity may reduce over time, and the booster dose is extremely important to avoid severe cases of the disease.

Another point addressed by Fiocruz is the immunization of children aged 5 to 11 years. Coverage of this age group with two doses is about 32% nationwide. However, the fact that the vaccines have been administered for approximately five months to minors makes the scenario “the biggest challenge” in the institution’s assessment.

Vaccines and pandemic control

Immunizers are essential to reduce severe Covid-19 and also reduce the transmission of Sars-CoV-2.

This importance can be seen in the decrease in hospitalizations in ICUs (Intensive Care Units) in the same period in which the doses applied increased. In addition, the omicron variant caused an increase in the number of cases of the disease in the country at the beginning of the year, but the protection provided by the vaccines contributed to the mortality of the disease not rising.

The data compiled by the institution in recent weeks confirm this perception: between April 24 and May 14, around 16,000 cases and 100 deaths were recorded. In this case, the lethality was around 0.7%, a number that is among “the lowest stable values ​​since the beginning of the pandemic”, says Fiocruz.