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After giving estimates for the start of vaccination against Covid-19 that ranged from December to March, the Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday (29) that it plans to start the strategy in the country between January 20 and February 10.
According to the portfolio executive secretary, Elcio Franco, the forecast considers three ranges of dates.
“In the best of cases, we would be starting vaccination from January 20. In an average period, between January 20 and February 10, and in the long term from February 10,” he reported.
Franco, however, stressed that the measure must depend on “a series of factors, including logistics.” However, the main thing would be for the laboratories to obtain authorization from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency).
“To start the vaccination, we need the manufacturers to obtain the registration in Anvisa, and to deliver enough doses to be distributed. If the distributor obtains the registration and finally does not have enough dose to distribute … understand: o Ministry of Health as the Ministry of Health has done its part, we made the plan [nacional de imunização]We have the operationalization ready, preparing ourselves for this great day, but we need the laboratories to request the registration ”, affirmed the secretary of health surveillance, Arnaldo Medeiros.
The statement comes amid criticism for the portfolio’s delay in negotiating doses of vaccines against Covid-19 and in the forecast for the start of vaccination.
Worldwide, more than 4 million doses of vaccines have been administered in various countries. The UK was the first to start its vaccination campaign and has already administered more than 800,000 doses.
In the United States, the campaign, which began on December 14, has already applied more than 2 million doses as of Monday (28).
In Latin America, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica and Argentina have already started their vaccination campaigns.
In previous moments, the Ministry of Health already delivered vaccination forecasts that varied between March, December, January and, in the last, February.
“The ministry is in a hurry, it feels the anguish of the population, but presses as said for the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine,” said Franco, who conditioned the signing of new contracts for the purchase of doses to the approval of vaccines in Anvisa .
He denied that there is a preference for immunizers. “We do not select vaccine A or B, from the closest or most remote country,” he said.
Brazil has an agreement to date, 142.9 million doses, 100.4 million of which through the agreement with the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca and another 42.5 million through the Covax Facility. Fiocruz is expected to produce another 160 million doses in the second half of 2021.
The country is negotiating with Pfizer / BioNTech to buy an additional 70 million doses, but the pharmaceutical company expects to deliver a maximum of 8.5 million doses by 2021. The government said it should include other labs in the deals, including. the manufacturer Sinovac, which develops a vaccine in association with the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Sputnik V, of the Russian government, the Indian biotechnology company Bharat Biotech, and Janssen-Cilag, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson.
So far, the forecast for the arrival of the first doses of the Oxford vaccine is on February 8, equivalent to 1 million doses. The São Paulo government intends to start the vaccination on January 25, with 10 million doses already in the Brazilian territory of Coronavac, the Sinovac vaccine.
According to the ministry, the idea is that vaccination is carried out in stages, starting with priority groups.
These groups include health workers, the elderly, indigenous people, and people with comorbidities (such as diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among others), teachers, and members of the security and rescue forces.
Education workers (and not just teachers), quilombola and riverside populations, people on the street, people with severe disabilities, public transport workers, road freight carriers and the population deprived of liberty also are on the list.
However, the ministry has not yet published a full schedule for the application of the doses.
