“Northern region will be a beacon of what will happen with Ômicron in Brazil”, says specialist

This Wednesday (15), travelers arriving in Brazil must present proof of vaccination against Covid-19 so that they can enter without having to comply with quarantine.

The measure takes effect after clarifications, on Tuesday (14), from the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso, who decided on the obligation of the vaccine passport in the country.

The restrictive measure will serve as an attempt to contain the establishment in Brazil of the new Ômicron variant of the coronavirus. “It is important that we have everyone in Brazil vaccinated and also those arriving from abroad. This is to avoid not only micron, but the introduction of new variants”, said Julio Croda, infectologist and researcher at Fiocruz, in an interview to CNN.

Even so, the expert explained that Ômicron should become the predominant form of the coronavirus worldwide, just as happened with the Delta variant. This is because the strain has greater transmissibility and greater immunological escape. “What changes is the impact it will generate”, he pondered.

Julio Croda argues that the states in the North region will be “a good beacon” of what should happen with the variant in Brazil. “We are experiencing this moment of greater transmissibility due to the rainy season in the Amazon winter, we have low vaccination coverage, we have a place that circulated the Gamma variant very intensively in the very distant past, between December and January”, he recalled.

“With the entry of Ômicron and the flexibility that are already in place, the low adherence to the use of masks, we will understand a little how the vaccine will hold or not the increase in hospitalizations and deaths”, he added.

In addition to the vaccine passport as a measure to contain Ômicron, the Fiocruz researcher reinforced the need for Brazil to achieve vaccination coverage of around 80%. He considers it essential that the population attend en masse to complete the vaccination schedule and take the booster dose.

Furthermore, Croda believes that Brazil could have already started vaccinating Brazilian children. Currently, Anvisa is analyzing an application by pharmaceutical company Pfizer to immunize children aged 5 to 11 against Covid-19.

“I don’t understand this Anvisa’s slow pace of a vaccine that has already been approved by the FDA [agência reguladora americana]”, he asked. He says that, in the context of Ômicron, it is important for this age group to have access to the vaccine to avoid a scenario similar to that of South Africa, where there is an increase in hospitalizations among children.

*Interview produced by Layane Serrano, given by CNN

Reference: CNN Brasil

You may also like