Vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 will be distributed until the 15th, says the ministry.
Anvisa has authorized pediatric vaccines from Pfizer and CoronaVac, which should be administered in two doses.
By Karine Melo - Reporter for Agência Brasil - Brasília
Until February 15th, all doses for the vaccination of children between 5 and 11 years of age against covid-19 will be distributed. The information was given by the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, in a conversation with journalists on the morning of this Monday (7). "We are working hard to bring forward the children's doses so that parents can exercise their right to vaccinate their children," said the minister.
In Brazil, where 20 million children are eligible to receive the vaccine, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has authorized pediatric vaccines from Pfizer and CoronaVac, which should be administered in two doses. "All the vaccines were developed in a short period of time, but we need to move forward in a sustained manner, encouraging parents to seek immunization without forcing them," Queiroga emphasized.
Fourth dose
Regarding the possibility of Brazil starting to administer the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Marcelo Queiroga said that, for now, there is no plan. According to the Minister of Health, the ministry's technicians have ruled out adopting the measure at this time, but it is possible that the application will be the "2022 dose" of the immunizing agent.
"The technical team has been discussing this. Secretary Rosana [Leite de Melo, extraordinary secretary for combating Covid at the Ministry of Health] spoke with me last Friday and said that the technical group, at this moment, is not considering administering the fourth dose. But, in practice, it would be the 2022 dose. What we have are doses to ensure that the necessary doses, recommended by the technicians, are made available to the Brazilian population," said the minister.
Distribution
The Ministry of Health has already distributed 430 million doses and, according to the ministry, there will be no shortage of vaccine should the country adopt a fourth application. Marcelo Queiroga reaffirmed that the vaccine has been important in making the effects of COVID-19 milder, being a "great force" in the fight against the Omicron variant.
The minister also emphasized that the ministry is in favor of vaccines and has been prominent in the fight against the new coronavirus, and that, for this reason, Brazil was chosen by consensus to represent the Americas in the group created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to discuss projects related to pandemics, along with South Africa, Egypt, the Netherlands, Japan, and Thailand.
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