Considered the second country with the highest number of deaths by coronavirus and the third in terms of the number of infections, Brazil assured this Wednesday, December 16th, that he foresees that a total of 16 months has already received the vaccine risk groups and the “general population”.
The period of time, established by the national immunization plan, would be after the country gives the green light to a drug.
“Once a vaccine is registered or emergency use is authorized, the distribution for the 26 states and the Federal District will be in up to five days,” Minister Eduardo Pazuello said in a document, collected by AFP, with details about the vaccination program requested by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the highest court in the country.
On Monday, STF judge Ricardo Lewandowski demanded that the minister specify the dates for the “beginning and end of the National Vaccination Plan,” but in his response, Pazuello indicated that such information depends on the approval of the immunizer by the health regulator Anvisa .
However, the minister estimated an “approximate period of four months” to vaccinate the four risk groups in the South American giant of 212 million inhabitants, including people older than 75 years, health professionals, older than 60 years who live in residences and indigenous people.
“In a period of 12 months the vaccination of the general population will conclude, which will depend, concomitantly, on the amount of immunobiological available for use”, therefore the plan is expected to end in “approximately 16 months”, the document adds .
Brazil, the scene of phase 3 trials for four vaccines, already registers almost 7 million infections and more than 182,000 deaths, a number surpassed only by the United States.
Over the weekend, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was harshly criticized by the national press for the government’s “incompetence” to formulate the vaccination program, which experts say is long overdue.
The Brazilian government “guarantees” access to some 300 million doses: 180 million of those developed by Oxford in alliance with AstraZeneca and the Brazilian institute Fiocruz; 42 million from the international conglomerate Covax and more than 70 million from Pfizer, still in negotiation.
COMMENTS