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In debate in the National Congress, doctors warned today of what they consider risks of rushing the studies of vaccines against covid-19 and of having a mass vaccination without all the solid data available.
In recent days, President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) and São Paulo Governor João Doria (PSDB) have clashed over whether to force the population to vaccinate against covid-19. The first is against. The second, in favor.
In the background, there is a political dispute over the first vaccine against the coronavirus in Brazil of Chinese origin and produced with the support of the São Paulo government, leveraging the eventual presidential candidacy of Doria against Bolsonaro in 2022.
The infectologist Francisco Cardoso, from the São Paulo state health department, said that “something is being sold that, in fact, may not be exactly what people are thinking,” because the phase three studies had earlier stages “run over”. “, in your opinion.
He assessed that, at the moment, the most discussed vaccines do not offer all the data on whether they are capable of producing the desired sustainable response. Cardoso said it was not yet known whether the vaccine produced this year could become ineffective in the case of the virus mutation, citing that the coronavirus circulating in Brazil is not exactly the same as that circulating in Wuhan, at the start of the pandemic in China. .
“We are currently using the Brazilians to test phase three, which is the effectiveness phase, that is, if the vaccine really offers what it proposes, and the studies of phases one and two are not complete. In these studies that we only discover when we open it or when they are going to be published? We have already immunized thousands of Brazilians, this does not obey the scientific method, it does not obey the safety rules.
Some of the doctors present in the debate promoted in Congress also questioned the levels of protection of vaccines in development and what the population can expect from them. For example, if the vaccines will only prevent someone from getting infected, sick or dying from Covid-19.
Immunologist and oncologist Nise Yamaguchi, who stood out months ago for advocating the use of chloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, a drug that has yet to prove its effectiveness, said population groups that did not undergo further testing broad should not be vaccinated.
“When we go to the public, we are going to find people who are pregnant and do not know, people who have cancer and do not know, immunodeficient, with autoimmune problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney, liver and who do not know they have these problems, and They will be vaccinated in this amalgam, in this eagerness to vaccinate everyone. And, also, the children who have not been examined and the elderly who are sick and, therefore, hidden in their homes, “he said.
He said it was “absurd” to have an authorization or a mandatory requirement for something that “is not even proven to work.” In his assessment, even if there is approval from regulatory agencies, this is not the only thing that should launch mass vaccination.
The specialists participated today in a virtual meeting of the External Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, aimed at monitoring the confrontation with the pandemic. The collegiate coordinator, deputy Luiz Antonio Teixeira Jr (PP-RJ), also said that it is not the time to discuss the mandatory vaccine, since not all the conditions of effects and results are clear.
“Certainly, we will produce a document to the Federal Supreme Court, to the Ministry of Health, saying of the demonstration that, as long as there is no vaccine validated by international organizations and by our Sanitary Surveillance Agency [Anvisa], it will not be possible to reach any kind of conclusion about the obligation ”, he said.
The vice president of Production and Innovation in Health at Fiocruz, Marco Krieger, said that there are “knowledge gaps” about covid-19 that must be filled, since it is a new disease. However, he argued that it is necessary to accelerate the phases of research, technological development and clinical studies, without sacrificing safety.
Fiocruz works in conjunction with vaccine research with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which is supported by the federal government.
“Although the process will have to be faster, this does not mean giving up the technical-scientific criteria or the number statistically necessary for us to reach conclusions,” Krieger said. “Any vaccine approved by Anvisa will be a safe vaccine.”
The coordinator of the PNI (National Immunization Program) of the Ministry of Health, Francieli Fontana, stressed that vaccines are only incorporated when levels of safety, immunogenicity and efficacy are tested. Although there is no vaccine ready, the PNI is working on some priority axes to prepare a vaccination strategy, he said.
Francieli added that, currently, there is no way to present a proposal, because it depends on more studies being published and analyzed. He also said that since there are several vaccines in development, it is necessary to evaluate the differences in the form of storage and even the target audience of each one.
“From the moment this vaccine is authorized, we will have a better vision to be able to develop an adequate vaccination strategy,” he said.
Last week, Anvisa’s direction that the analysis of vaccines against the new coronavirus will be technical, regardless of the laboratory and the country of origin of the treatment.
The president of Anvisa, Antônio Barra, affirmed that it is not up to the agency to advance positions or analyzes on vaccines or to present calendar forecasts or when a substance will be available to the population.
