Government of SP will announce CoronaVac vaccination plan this Monday | Saint Paul

Produced by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac in association with the Butantan Institute, the São Paulo government’s forecast is that it can begin to be applied to the population in January 2021.

The vaccine is still in the third phase of testing, in which its effectiveness must be tested before being launched by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

Last week, the state government said the final report should be sent to the agency in December and that it shouldn’t be necessary to request emergency use of the vaccine.

In a press conference last Thursday (3), the governor criticized the announcement made by the federal government that the national vaccination schedule should start in March 2021. CoronaVac has not yet been included in the plan of the Ministry of Health.

According to Doria, vaccination in São Paulo will be carried out even without investment from the federal government. “On Monday (7) we will present the state immunization program, complete with a schedule, with sectors that are prioritized, volume of vaccines, logistics. All processes will be presented ”.

Still during the press conference, the coordinator of the Covid-19 Contingency Center, José Medina, said that the plan must begin with health professionals and people over 50 years of age. The campaign is usually similar to the flu campaign, which is held annually throughout the country.

“Those who are between 50, 60 years old, the fatality is 3%. And it is gradually increasing, those who are over 80 years old, up to 80, 89 is 32% and those over 90 is 39%. And this is the main criterion for the use of vaccination. Perhaps the main criterion to use is the vaccination of people over 50 years of age. They are the people who are most at risk, the people who saturate the health system. Furthermore, vaccinating these people breaks the circle of circulation of the virus, ”Medina said at a press conference last week.

On December 1, the federal government released the “preliminary” strategy to vaccinate Brazilians. In the calendar presented, CoronaVac is not mentioned by the Ministry of Health.

The vaccine is in the final phase of testing and is expected to be distributed in Brazil. The São Paulo government signed an agreement for the purchase of 46 million doses and the transfer of technology to the Butantan Institute.

In October, the Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, even announced in a virtual meeting with more than 23 governors, the purchase of the immunizer, but, less than 24 hours later, the acquisition was unauthorized by President Jair Bolsonaro.

On day 2, Anvisa said that it will accept that companies that develop vaccines against Covid-19 request “emergency use” in Brazil and released the requirements for the request.

“Emergency use” is different from “health registration”, which is full approval for the use of an immunizer. Final registration is dependent on more data and the completion of all vaccine testing steps.

Due to the political confrontations, the government of São Paulo had already announced alternative plans to vaccinate the population, in case the vaccine is not incorporated into the National Immunization Program.

“Every day without a vaccine counts. If the vaccine is to be used, we have to start the vaccination. And that, for the simple reason: the vaccine can save the lives of thousands of people. It does not make sense, from the point of view of the responsibility to delay the use of a vaccine available and ready, already registered in Anvisa. We will work together with the states, if applicable, together with the municipalities, to make this happen”Said the director of the Butantan Institute in an interview with GloboNews.

The São Paulo government has already received 120,000 ready doses of the vaccine, in addition to the supply of supplies that can reach 1 million doses.

The inputs are the “ingredients” necessary for the completion of the vaccine in the country. Butantan will be in charge of completing the final manufacturing stage.

In total, under the agreement closed, Butantan will receive 6 million ready-to-use doses from the Chinese laboratory and will formulate and fill another 40 million doses.

Minimum number of infected

In late November, CoronaVac’s phase 3 study reached the minimum number of people infected with Covid-19 needed to begin the final testing phase.

The step allows the opening of the study and the intermediate analysis of the immunizer results. The expectation is that the data will be published by the São Paulo government in the coming weeks.

Immune response and safety

A study of 743 patients found that CoronaVac showed safety and a satisfactory immune response during phases 1 and 2 of the tests.

Phase 2 of testing a vaccine verifies the safety and ability to elicit a defense system response. It is usually done with hundreds of volunteers. Phase 1, on the other hand, is carried out by dozens of people and phase 3, by thousands. It is in phase 3, the current one, where the effectiveness of the vaccine is measured.