[ad_1]
“It is sad that the country has a president who has no compassion for Brazilians,” said Governor João Doria, announcing today, at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, the start of the massive vaccination campaign against Covid-19.
Doria has already marked the day: on January 25, 2021, the vaccination of 9 million people in São Paulo begins, prioritizing health professionals, the elderly over 60 years of age, quilombolas and indigenous people.
“Why wait for March, as the federal government wants, if we can start saving lives from January?” The governor asked several times, in an open challenge to the plans of the Ministry of Health, which has been delaying a national plan for immunization.
With or without the approval of Anvisa, Doria hinted that he will not accept any postponement to the start of the State Immunization Plan announced this Monday, since Coronavac, the vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, in alliance with the Butantan Institute, has already passed all safety and efficiency tests.
“The Butantan vaccine can no longer be postponed, it must be applied immediately, to save lives and not further overload the health system. We need the union of all against the ideological struggle and denialism, enough to politicize this issue,” he said . the governor, visibly moved, without mentioning the name of President Bolsonaro, along with Dimas Covas and other authorities of the São Paulo government.
At the 150th press conference he gave in Bandeirantes, since the beginning of the pandemic, Doria also announced that 4 million vaccines will be made available to health professionals in other states.
At the same time, continuing the process of militarization of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) to maintain control of the immunization program against Covid-19, on November 12 Bolsonaro indicated to the retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Luiz Kormann. assume one of the five board positions.
With no prior experience in vaccine development, Korman must lead the unit charged with approving immunizers, if his name is approved by the Senate, a mere bureaucratic formality. Thus, Anvisa, a technical body of the Ministry of Health, currently commanded by a general, will have a majority of military personnel on the board.
“Anvisa is being equipped today by directors allied with Bolsonaro’s health and irresponsible stance,” deputy Alexandre Padilha (PT-SP), former Minister of Health, warned Reuters.
Given this scenario, what will happen if Anvisa simply refuses to approve Coronavac before January 25?
Will the federal government send troops to São Paulo to prevent vaccination from starting?
By setting a date, Doria checked mate in the dispute he has had with Bolsonaro throughout the pandemic.
For my part, as an elderly man at risk, I just have to celebrate that I will be able to get the first vaccination on February 15 and the second on March 8, a week before my 73rd birthday.
Finally, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.
Long live the vaccine! Down with denialism!
Life that goes on.
