Only 30% of young people up to 24 years old took the 3rd dose of vaccine against Covid

Brazil skates in the process to be able to immunize its population over 18 with the third dose of vaccines against Covid, already recommended for this age group since December 2021.

While in the older groups, aged 70 years or older, about 9 out of 10 Brazilians have a complete three-dose vaccination schedule and are already progressing to the fourth dose (or second booster), in the population under 60 years of age this portion is not enough. to half, according to the analysis of the Sheet with data from the Ministry of Health and the IBGE.

The percentages decrease with age: just over a third of Brazilians aged between 25 and 29 have updated their protection (35%), and less than that in the 18-24 age group (30%).

Even considering that the immunization of these groups started later and that it is necessary to wait for the interval of four months after the second dose, the younger groups could already present high percentages. However, most ignore the need for the extra dose or do not seek the update within the indicated period, as shown by a report by Sheet.

For Renato Kfouri, director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations, it is important to first differentiate the concept of booster with that of a three-dose cycle. “Today we already have enough evidence to know that the complete schedule is three doses, not two. We only talk about reinforcement for the elderly over 60 years who receive the fourth dose”, he says.

If at the beginning, when vaccines were developed, it was not known how long protection would last, now there are studies that show that the level of antibodies induced after immunization drops in about four months. “And this has a differential because saying that it is a booster dose is quite different from saying that the individual is only fully immunized with three doses”, he reinforces.

At the same time, data from the State Health Departments collected by the consortium of press vehicles (SheetUOL, G1, O Globo, Extra and O Estado de S.Paulo) indicate that this scenario should not change in the short term, as the pace of investments is decreasing in the country.

The National Immunization Program (PNI) reached the mark of 1 million booster doses administered daily, according to the moving average. This occurred in the second half of January, a period when the country was facing an explosion of new cases due to the omicron variant.

Since then, demand has been decreasing. This week, the average of applications was 184 thousand third doses per day in the country.

“There was a misjudgment that the micron, by causing milder cases in people already vaccinated, was milder, like a ‘little flu’. But the immunity conferred by natural infection is not the same as that conferred by vaccines, which protect against severe cases. “, ponders epidemiologist Ethel Maciel, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes).

The survey also shows an imbalance between the regions of Brazil. While in São Paulo 77% of the population over 18 years old has already received the third dose, this rate drops to less than a third in the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Rondônia, Pará, Amapá and Roraima, according to the state secretariats. It is worth mentioning that these data are subject to delays related to the digitization of records, especially in municipalities with few resources and less computerized.

According to data from the consortium of press vehicles, about 85% of the population received the first dose and 77% took the complete primary vaccination schedule, that is, two doses or a single dose. The coverage of the third dose is 47%, and that of the fourth dose is 9.4% (considering only those aged 60 years and over, the age group eligible for the second booster). The numbers are from the last 18th.

In recent weeks, the positivity rate of Covid tests in private network laboratories has risen, from 12.5%, at the end of April, to 24.1%, on the 15th. “This increase in cases that we are seeing now it is the result of the wave of the Ômicron in January, and now, after almost five months, we already have a drop in protection [por infecção]. And the low number of people with booster ends up also having an effect on the loss of protection provided by the vaccine”, says Kfouri.

As the most vulnerable populations are those that will be most affected in the face of a resurgence of cases, as seen in other waves of the pandemic, the population needs to prevent the rise of cases by reaching higher third and fourth vaccine coverage, explains infectious disease specialist Rosana Richtmann. , from the Emilio Ribas Institute of Infectious Diseases.

According to her, there are many cases of reinfection in people who contracted the micron at the beginning of the year. “As we are no longer experiencing that tragedy of early 2021, with a lack of oxygen and people dying without air, [as pessoas] do not have this perception of risk”, he evaluates.

The same is reflected in a bulletin released by Fiocruz last Thursday (19), which noted a slowdown in the application of doses of immunizations in the three different moments of the vaccination campaign, with the first, second and third doses.

“The slower pace at the beginning of vaccination was due to the lack of immunizations for everyone and that’s why they had the priority groups. This also happened with the third dose. But now there’s no shortage of immunization, what’s missing is the communication campaign to inform the importance of updating”, says Diego Xavier, researcher at Fiocruz and one of the authors of the newsletter.

According to him, a nationwide campaign is essential for any infectious disease with vaccines available, which is why Brazil also faces low vaccine coverage for diseases that, in the past, had been eradicated.

The same vision is shared by Maciel, from Ufes. “Unfortunately, there is a lack of information for people and since the beginning of vaccination, false news has been broadcast by the government itself, which makes adherence difficult”, he says, emphasizing, for example, speeches by the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who said he was not going to Get vaccinated because you already had Covid.

“What we need now is for the PNI to fulfill its duty to inform, for state and municipal secretariats to actively search for absentees and for mass vaccination campaigns to be carried out in schools and companies”, he adds.