Brazil’s Health Minister announces end of sanitary emergency

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On April 17, Brazil’s Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, announced the end of the Public Health Emergency of National Importance (Espin) on national radio and TV networks.

According to the minister, the decision will be officially issued in the coming days and disclosed in a normative act.

The end of the emergency will impact at least 170 rules at the Ministry of Health, including the authorization for emergency use of medicines and vaccines.

At the Ministry of Health alone, 170 rules may be impacted by the end of the health emergency.

That is the case of the immunizer CoronaVac, which has emergency authorization. In the case of Pfizer, Janssen, and AstraZeneca vaccines, the immunizers already have definitive registration. Therefore, they will not suffer any impact.

Queiroga also said that more than 73% of the Brazilian population has already completed the vaccination scheme. And that 71 million booster doses have been applied.

“Thanks to the improvement of the epidemiological scenario, the wide vaccination coverage of the population, and the assistance capacity of SUS, today we can announce the end of the Public Health Emergency of National Importance, the ESPIN. A normative act will be issued to regulate this decision in the next few days,” said the minister.

According to the Health Minister, the end of the health emergency does not mean that Brazil is free of the coronavirus.

“We will continue to live with the virus. The Ministry of Health remains vigilant and prepared to take all necessary actions to ensure the health of Brazilians,” he added.

So far, the Covid-19 pandemic has officially caused the death of 660,000 Brazilians.