The federal government’s stock of pediatric vaccines against covid-19 for children up to four years old is exhausted, said today (6), in Brasilia, the secretary of Health and Environment Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel. She stated that the government is negotiating the anticipation of remittances scheduled for the end of January. She stressed that she has already held meetings with the manufacturer of pediatric vaccines Pfizer – the only one that produces the immunizer for the age group of six months to three years old – for the possible anticipation of deliveries. “Let’s sort it out,” Ethel said. According to her, there is an expectation of anticipating shipments of 3.2 million doses for the public between six months and four years, and another 4.5 million doses for the public between four and 11 years. The other pediatric vaccine against covid-19 approved for younger children, Coranovac, produced by the Butantã Institute, can be applied from the age of three. The secretary, however, said that the contract with the institute was paralyzed by the previous management of the Ministry of Health, and should be resumed soon. Vaccination of adults Also today, the secretary reported that the Ministry of Health has an excessive stock of vaccines against covid-19 for adults, and that it plans to regularize the availability of doses with the advice of state and municipal health secretaries. Despite having a significant number of doses held by the federal government, there are situations like that of Rio de Janeiro, which yesterday (5) announced the interruption of vaccination for the adult public due to the shortage of immunizers. For the ministry, there are bottlenecks left by the previous administration in the communication and distribution of vaccines. “We need to re-establish these flows that have become very confused”, said Ethel. “The ministry’s mission is to restore this dialogue with the federation units”, she added. She announced that a meeting of the Technical Advisory Board on Immunization against Covid-19 (Ctai), in which representatives of states and municipalities participate, was scheduled for next Tuesday (10). The goal is to discuss the likely anticipation of a new vaccination campaign against covid-19. The secretary also said that it is possible that some states recommend a fourth dose for the public under 30 without comorbidities, which will be discussed in the technical chamber. The priority, however, must be to complete the vaccination schedule of all adults with at least one booster dose. Ethel stressed that science today considers the application of at least three doses as ideal for the effectiveness of immunizers. She explained that the number of people with this vaccination coverage does not reach 50% of the target audience, lacking the third dose in at least 100 million people. New variant Regarding the first case of the XBB.15 variant in Brazil, identified in São Paulo, the secretary highlighted that this is a factor that leads the Ministry of Health to consider bringing forward a new vaccination campaign, and that the priority in time will be to complete the vaccination schedule for adults. “We received information that the variant is circulating and the sample is from November. We will discuss it with the Technical Chamber. What we have about the new variant is the high transmissibility and we want to resume these vaccination schemes with people whose dose is overdue”, he concluded. .
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