Brazil wants to vaccinate entire population over 18 against Covid-19 within 5 weeks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In an announcement on Tuesday evening (27), the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, reiterated the forecast to vaccinate the entire population over age 18 against Covid-19, at least with the first dose, in “no more than 5 weeks”.

After that, the Ministry will discuss reducing the interval between the first and second doses of Pfizer. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health asked states and municipalities to “strictly follow” the definitions of the Vaccination Plan regarding the intervals between doses and other technical recommendations under threat of future liability.

To date, Brazil has administered 134,648,621 doses, according to government data updated at 3 PM Tuesday. Of those, 96,560,204 received the first application – just over 60% of the vaccine-eligible population. The remainder – 38,088,417 people – have already completed the vaccination cycle.

The 21-day interval is in Pfizer’s package insert. However, the ministry has adopted the 3-month gap in Brazil on the grounds of pushing the use of the first dose. “But now we already have a certainty in supplies,” Queiroga pointed out. The prediction is that another 100 million doses will arrive in the country by December.

VACCINATION OF PREGNANT WOMEN

In addition to vaccinating by age group, Pfizer received approval from the Ministry of Health to allow pregnant or postpartum women who received the first dose of immunization against AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 to take the second dose of the drug. The measure also works with Coronavac should there not be enough AstraZeneca.

Brazil was to receive another shipment of 1.053 million Pfizer vaccines against Covid-19 on Tuesday (July 27). The vaccines are part of the 29th batch the pharmaceutical company has sent to the federal government. This is the seventh of 13 shipments of 1 million doses against Covid-19 that the laboratory has promised.