RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Vaccination against Covid-19 will resume in the capital, São Paulo, on Wednesday June 23. After the campaign was suspended for lack of doses, there was a change in the calendar, revising the dates for the population group aged 44 to 48 years.
According to Health Secretary Edson Aparecido, the changes in the calendar should not affect the rest of the schedule, whose dates were maintained. “We believe that the PNI (National Immunization Plan) will be able to maintain the supply (of vaccines), and we will keep the calendar,” he said in an interview with Rádio Eldorado.
The city’s calendar is in line with the schedule proposed by the state government, which foresees the vaccination of the 43-49 age group between June 23 and 29. The vaccination sites have been replenished with 181,800 doses of Coronavac (for the first dose) and 30,000 doses of AstraZeneca (for the second dose).
This month, Governor João Doria (PSDB) announced that he would apply the first dose to all adults in the state by September. On Monday, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga made the same forecast for the whole country. In the capital, São Paulo, the shortage was still making itself felt over the weekend.
On Saturday, the municipal health secretariat claimed it had notified the state that only 59,000 doses were in stock. Edson Aparecido said the request for more vaccines was made by Deputy Secretary and Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB).
To maintain immunization over the weekend, the city came up with 16,000 doses from AstraZeneca reserved for the second dose. The stock was replaced, but the city’s request was not met until Tuesday. In a statement, the state health department said it distributes the vaccines according to the quantities sent by the health department and based on the target population of each city.
Aparecido believes that the shortage of doses in the city resulted from the high demand for vaccines. He said 93% of the population between 50 and 59 years old had been vaccinated in recent days. “Fortunately, we have a great response to the campaign in the capital,” he said. Also, in the Rádio Eldorado interview, the secretary informed that 1.2 million doses were deployed in the city between Monday and Wednesday last week.
According to Estadão newspaper, according to the regional government, the suspension measure decided by City Hall could have been avoided, given the arrival of new doses already scheduled. The shortage reached more than 60% of the deployment sites in the city.
More vaccines
The Ministry of Health makes monthly projections of the total doses the country should receive, but this projection is difficult to meet, and the Ministry has had to reduce the expected amount often.
This hinders state and local planning. “We keep running into the same problem. According to the correct schedule, the doses are not dispensed,” says epidemiologist Ethel Maciel, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes).
Maciel says that the one-time suspension of vaccination in cities is damaging the entire campaign. “It creates mistrust,” she says. Other state capitals suspended the application of the first dose yesterday.
This month, Brazil expected 37.9 million doses of vaccine but has received only 29.2 million so far. Of that total, two million doses arrived Tuesday: 1.5 million from Janssen and 528,000 from Pfizer. It is the first shipment of doses from Janssen to the country, which immunizes with a single dose.
About the vaccines that arrived on Tuesday, there is still no definition of how many doses will be delivered to each state. According to the Ministry of Health, the division will coordinate with the National Council of Health Secretaries and the National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries.
Anvisa extended the validity period of the Janssen vaccine, which facilitates logistics – originally, only distribution to capitals was planned because the vaccine would expire on June 27.
The Executive Secretary of the São Paulo Health Department, Eduardo Ribeiro, said that the Janssen single-dose vaccine would be distributed to all cities in the state.