The Ministry of Health has confirmed interest in an additional 10 million pediatric doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, federal government sources told AFP. CNN.
A new amendment to the contract should be signed in the coming weeks. The extra doses will be delivered by the end of March.
In this way, the number of pediatric doses ordered by the country rises from 20 million to 30 million.
The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, had already told the CNN the country’s interest in purchasing more doses, but there was no confirmation of availability by Pfizer.
With this amount of vaccines, it is possible to vaccinate all Brazilian children from 5 to 11 years old with the first dose until March and half with the second dose.
The additional volume is very important because children aged 11 and 10 years who are vaccinated later this month need to have the second dose in 8 weeks.
And the country would not have enough doses to vaccinate children aged 5 to 6 years in the first quarter.
The amendment to the contract with Pfizer also takes place at a time when Anvisa is discussing the approval of the pediatric use of Coronavac in children, but there are many doubts among technicians about the effectiveness of this vaccine.
Brazil faces a new wave of infections by the Ômicron variant, which is already putting pressure on the health system.
Reference: CNN Brasil
