Covid-19: 53% of São Paulo municipalities had zero deaths in last epidemiological week

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Amid the advance of the vaccination calendar against Covid-19, the state of São Paulo registered 346 municipalities, out of a total of 645, without deaths by the disease in the last epidemiological week, representing 53% of the total number.

On Wednesday (4), the announcement was made during a press conference at Palácio dos Bandeirantes in São Paulo.

Currently, the occupancy rate of intensive care units (ICU) in the state is 47.57%, which represents the lowest rate since the beginning of the year, according to Jean Gorinchteyn, the state health secretary.

The number of total hospitalizations in the state of São Paulo has been falling for seven consecutive weeks. There are  16.4% fewer hospitalized patients compared to the first peak of the pandemic in 2020.

“Health rates have been improving, and this is due to the progressive immunization of our population. That is why we cannot interrupt the vaccination process,” says Gorinchteyn.

Questioned about the use of a “vaccination passport”, like the one used in countries like France, the state government said it is not considering this option now, given that the protocols in force have been sufficient to contain the advance of the pandemic.

The government, however, says it is following the pandemic data closely and that it may be possible to adopt the measure at a later time.

Until this Wednesday, 80.7% of the state population was already vaccinated with at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. The complete vaccination scheme was seen in 23.4% of the population.

During the press conference, Governor João Doria also said that the state of São Paulo received only 50% of the Pfizer vaccines (228,000 doses) that should have been delivered by the Ministry of Health’s National Immunization Program (PNI).

The governor says that he sent a letter to the Health Minister, Marcelo Queiroga, questioning the partial delivery since no justification has been indicated so far.

According to the state government, the lack of the remaining doses can compromise the vaccination schedule for adolescents, scheduled to begin August 18.