The city of Rio de Janeiro will not have doses of vaccine against Covid-19 to immunize all its children until February 9, as announced this Thursday morning (6) by Mayor Eduardo Paes.
At least not with the dose delivery estimates released so far by the Ministry of Health and by Pfizer, the company that manufactures the immunizing agent.
The data show that the city’s plan is not feasible. The State of Rio de Janeiro will receive in January only half of the immunizations needed to apply the first dose to children in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. The state has other 91 municipalities.
Will arrive in Brazil during the month of January 3.74 million doses of pediatric vaccines, as released yesterday by the Ministry of Health. The distribution between the States will be made in proportion to their child population.
The State of Rio de Janeiro has 1.53 million children between 5 and 11 years old, equivalent to 7.49% of the total number of people in this age group in the country. That means the state government will receive 280,000 doses of pediatric vaccines against Covid in January.
According to data from the city of Rio de Janeiro, the number of children between 5 and 11 years old in the capital of Rio de Janeiro is 560 thousand – that is, double the doses that the entire state will receive in the first month of the year.
Pfizer has yet to say how many doses it will deliver in February and March. By the end of March, 20 million pediatric doses should arrive in the country according to the contract signed between the federal government and the company.
Therefore, the doses needed to fulfill the plans announced by Mayor Eduardo Paes to vaccinate children with the first dose by February 9 are not guaranteed yet. THE CNN he sought out Rio’s municipal health secretary, Daniel Soranz, but still has no answer.
According to the report, the Ministry of Health warned all state and municipal secretaries about the number of doses that will be sent to each in January.
In a statement, the ministry states that “since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, all decisions were taken jointly between the Ministry of Health and representatives of states and municipalities. The Ministry reiterates that all technical guidelines are immediately communicated to the states and municipalities from the beginning of the campaign and reinforces the guidance so that everyone follows the agreed measures.”
A CNN he also sought out the city of Rio de Janeiro and the government of the state of RJ and is awaiting their return.
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Reference: CNN Brasil
