The Ministry of Health warned this week that about 22 million Brazilians are able to receive the second dose against Covid-19 but have not yet completed the vaccination schedule. Regarding the first booster dose, about 62 million still have not returned to the health centers.
In an interview with CNN pediatrician Isabella Ballalai, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIm), said that the main gap in strengthening against the disease is among young people.
“What is most worrying today is the fact that most young people have not received the third dose, which means a loss of protection for severe cases and also a loss of protection for infection. We keep what we don’t want, because it gives chances for new variants and high-risk people to die, which is the transmission of the virus in the community”, says the doctor.
The specialist says that basic care is still needed that contribute to the prevention of respiratory disease.
“Learn to Living with Covid is understanding that care will still be necessary. We can live without masks in certain situations or times to wear masks again, understanding that vaccination and the use of masks is the best protection”, he highlights.
Inequality in the distribution of vaccines
Since the beginning of vaccination campaigns against Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the importance of the equal distribution of immunizations between countries as a fundamental measure to combat the coronavirus.
“This is a big problem, as long as we don’t control Covid-19 worldwide and that only vaccinates a good part of this population, the risk of new variants will always be high”, says Isabella. a “We would like everyone to have this access, and I think only the World Health Organization to find a way to do this and unfortunately it hasn’t been found yet”, she says.
Covid-19 vaccines have reduced the potential number of global deaths during the pandemic by more than half in the year following the implementation of immunization campaigns. The estimates are from a study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
In the first year of vaccination programs, around 19.8 million deaths were avoided worldwide, out of a potential of 31.4 million deaths due to the disease.
Estimates were based on excess mortality from 185 countries and territories. Excess deaths is defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific periods and the expected numbers of loss of life in the same periods.
The study estimates that an additional 599,300 lives could have been saved if the WHO’s target of vaccinating 40% of the population in each country, with two or more doses, by the end of 2021 had been reached.
Source: CNN Brasil
