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Amid criticism for the slow vaccination against the new coronavirus and recognizing the difficulty of acquiring doses abroad, the Minister of Health, General Eduardo Pazuello, said that he hopes to vaccinate the entire population by the end of this year.
In a session in the Plenary of the Senate on Thursday (11), the Minister of Health said that he hopes to vaccinate 50% of the population by June and the other half by the end of the year.
“We are going to vaccinate the country in 2021, 50% in June and 50% in December. That is our challenge, what we are looking for and what we are going to do,” said the minister.
According to data from the media consortium, Brazil has so far vaccinated 4.4 million people, which is equivalent to 2.69% of the population over 18 years of age; the country has 211.7 million people, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
However, not the entire population is indicated to receive the vaccine. There are no studies, for example, on the application of immunizers in children under 18 years of age.
In addition, due to lack of doses, this week vaccination was stopped in cities of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro; Salvador also changed the schedule due to a shortage of immunizers.
At the end of last year, President Jair Bolsonaro (without a party) affirmed that there would be “no vaccine for everyone”, criticizing the decision of the Supreme Federal Court that reaffirmed the mandatory nature of vaccination.
The minister was invited to participate in the session, in a request approved by senators last week. Senators have already gathered enough signatures to install a Covid CPI (Parliamentary Inquiry Commission).
The final decision rests with the president of the Chamber, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG). Before the session, Pacheco affirmed that Pazuello’s speech would not be decisive in defining whether or not the CPI would be installed, but stressed that it would be “important.”
Pazuello highlighted that he faces difficulties in acquiring vaccines abroad, and producers offer availability of insufficient doses for the Brazilian reality. That is why he indicated that the bet would be on national production.
The Health Minister once again attacked Pfizer’s conditions, which asked for imposed conditions, such as non-sentencing in Brazilian courts and immunity in cases of adverse reactions. Pazuello said the conditions are impractical and “leonine.”
According to the minister, the ministry is currently negotiating with Bharat Biotech, which makes the Covaxin vaccine, and with the Gamaleya Institute, in Russia, to obtain the Sputnik vaccine. In the first case, 20 million doses are expected in 60 days. In the second, 10 million doses.
He also held meetings with Janssen, Moderna and Pfizer.
