Rio de Janeiro Health Secretariat publishes new vaccination schedule for Covid-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Municipal Health Secretariat of the city of Rio de Janeiro published on its official Twitter profile new vaccination schedules against Covid-19 in the capital.

With the update, the City Hall’s goal is to vaccinate all adults in the city over 18 with the first vaccine dose by August 18 – earlier, the forecast was the end of next month.

Last Thursday, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and municipal health secretary Daniel Soranz held a live webcast where they announced a new advance in the vaccination campaign against the disease.

“All Rio de Janeiro adult citizens will be vaccinated [with the first dose] in one month,” summarized the mayor in the live webcast.

“It’s a bold schedule” completed Soranz, reporting that the city government’s planning hinges on deliveries from vaccine manufacturers, such as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), which produces the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine; São Paulo’s Butantan Institute that produces the Coronavac; U.S. Pfizer lab, which produces the vaccine of the same name; and also immunizers from the global Covax Facility consortium, which has signed an agreement to supply doses to Brazil.

During the live webcast, the mayor and the secretary said that a booster dose for seniors over 60 is under consideration, between October and December. The goal is to reinforce immunization against the disease in a population with greater difficulty in generating antibodies, Soranz said. “It is a very important decision, but it is under discussion,” the secretary said.

Also in the online event, the mayor again expressed confidence that the New Year’s Eve and Carnaval celebrations will be held in the city, as in pre-pandemic times. “God willing, we will celebrate New Year’s Eve and Carnaval. We will be able to hug each other again,” Paes said in the live broadcast.

In the Rio Covid-19 Panel website, provided by the city hall, the city administration lists 4,844,066 vaccine doses against the disease administered in the capital. In practice, this represents 53.3% of the total city population with the first or single vaccine dose; and 20.5% with the two or single doses. The data were updated through 8:45 PM on July 15.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, 9,305,934 people have been immunized as of 11 PM on July 15. The data are from the “Vaccinometer” available on the Rio de Janeiro government website.