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Credit, Reuters
São Paulo government says it will partner with states and cities to immunize healthcare professionals
The government of São Paulo has announced that it will begin vaccination against COVID-19 on January 25, although the vaccine that will be used has not yet proven its effectiveness or has been approved by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
São Paulo’s vaccination plan foresees that, in the first phase, health professionals, people over 60 years of age, indigenous people and quilombolas will be immunized. This will involve vaccinating 9 million people.
The São Paulo government justified the decision by stating that 77% of the 42,500 deaths caused by the new coronavirus in the state occurred among these groups.
Vaccination will be free and will be carried out through 10,000 vaccination posts, of which 4,800 will be new locations, created especially for the campaign, with the provisional use of schools, barracks and pharmacies, for example.
Vaccination will involve taking two doses, with 18 million doses applied, with a difference of 21 days between the first and second application.
The forecast is that the first phase of the plan will be completed on March 28, when the São Paulo government estimates that 20% of the 46 million inhabitants of the state will be immunized.
The plan will follow the following schedule, created to avoid crowds at health posts:
* Health professionals, indigenous and quilombolas: 01/25 (1st dose) and 02/15 (2nd dose);
* people over 75 years old: 02/08 (1st dose) and 03/01 (2nd dose);
* people from 70 to 74 years old: 02/15 (1st dose) and 03/03 (2nd dose);
* people from 65 to 69 years old: 02/22 (1st dose) and 03/15 (2nd dose)
* people from 60 to 64 years old: 03/01 (1st dose) and 03/22 (2nd dose)
Each group should search for vaccination posts during the week following the start date. The service will be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Everything will be done only by the public health system, and there is still no provision for the application in the private network.
Governor João Doria said that it will not be necessary to prove residence in the state to get vaccinated. “Each and every one of the Brazilians who are on state soil and request the vaccine will be vaccinated,” he said.
The vaccine has not yet proven its effectiveness
4 million doses will also be made available to other states that request them to immunize healthcare professionals. The São Paulo government claims that eight have already done so, but did not say which ones.
The city councils of Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro are also already in contact with the São Paulo government, Doria said.
However, studies on the effectiveness of CoronaVac, which is being carried out by the Butantan Institute, linked to the São Paulo government, and the Chinese company Sinovac, have not yet been completed.
So far, Anvisa has not been asked to register the immunizer or allow its urgent use.
For that, it will be necessary to demonstrate that CoronaVac really protects against covid-19.
So far, studies have shown that it is safe (94.7% of volunteers had no adverse effects and 99.7% of those who had a reaction reported mild symptoms, such as injection site pain and pain in the neck. head) and generates a response from the immune system (in 97% of the participants).
Proving that CoronaVac is effective is the main objective of the so-called phase 3 studies with the vaccine, which are still ongoing.
Doria estimates that the results of the Brazilian investigation arm and the registration request will be sent to Anvisa on the 15th.
The registration of the vaccine also depends on the approval of the manufacturing conditions of Sinovac in China, where 6 million doses will be made for its application.
The remaining 40 million that the Doria government expects to have in January will be made from Chinese inputs in Butantan.
Anovisa’s inspection of Sinovac was completed last Friday and the final decision will be made between the last week of December and the first week of January, the agency said.
Credit, Reuters
CoronaVac Phase 3 studies, still ongoing, investigate whether it is effective
Anticipation of immunization
If you can get the registration or use urgently and confirm the dates announced now, the São Paulo government will in practice be advancing the vaccination provided by the federal government.
The plan of the Ministry of Health plans to vaccinate 13 million Brazilians in the first stage, in which priority will also be given to the elderly, health professionals, indigenous people and quilombolas.
But the proposal is to start vaccination between March and June. The official date has yet to be released.
In Monday’s announcement, Doria questioned the federal calendar. “Why start vaccinating in March if we can start in January?”
According to the governor of São Paulo, this can save lives and prevent vaccination against covid-19 from occurring at the same time as the flu is immunized.
Doria said that São Paulo already has stock of all the materials necessary for the application of doses, such as needles, syringes and protective equipment.
The São Paulo plan will have the participation of 54 thousand health professionals and will have a total cost of R $ 100 million.
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