With the approval of the Coronavac vaccine for use in children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old, released on Thursday (20) by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), the expectation is that the childhood immunization campaign will advance more quickly. .
In an interview with CNN This Friday (21), the State Secretary of Health of São Paulo, Jean Gorinchteyn, said that the state expects to apply all the first doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 in the age group from 5 to 11 years old until the 10th of December. February.
According to him, São Paulo had ordered about 8 million doses of Coronavac for this public, 4 million of which have already been sent to municipalities.
“We have the need to immunize 4.3 million children between 5 and 11 years old. Of these, 850,000 are priorities, with comorbidities – such as diabetes or heart disease, physical and mental disabilities – and indigenous people and quilombolas”, he explained.
“With this amount of 4 million doses and another 400 thousand doses from the Ministry of Health, we will have the possibility, until February 10, with the speed we have to vaccinate 250 thousand children every day, to immunize this group with the 1st dose – because it is these children who will resume school activities”, he concluded.
Gorinchteyn also commented on the interest of the Ministry of Health in acquiring doses of Coronavac from the Butantan Institute, as confirmed this Friday (21) by the ministry and the entity.
“Butantan had in its warehouses 15 million doses of the Coronavac vaccine for the pediatric population. 7 million doses were left for those who wished it and, fortunately, the Ministry of Health made this request”, he declared.
Jean Gorinchteyn said that there are currently 2,700 people hospitalized in ICUs across the state due to Covid-19.
Despite the increase recorded in recent weeks with the advancement of the Ômicron variant, Gorinchteyn highlighted that the number is “much lower” than what was observed in the second wave of the disease in Brazil, when 13,150 people were in beds in São Paulo.
The Secretary of Health also evaluated that it is possible that Ômicron will continue in full expansion through the month of February.
“We have increasing numbers and a tension that there may be an increase in the coming weeks, reaching a stabilization and then a fall”, he said. “We will most likely have to live with this variant during February.”
In addition, the lack of sufficient tests to meet the increase in demand and the cases not identified by the health systems make the real numbers of the pandemic situation, at this moment, different.
“Every time we report cases, they are cases reported for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The others, those who have mild symptoms, who are tested at the pharmacy or laboratories, or many who do not even take the test, end up not being part of these statistics. So the number is even higher.”
Reference: CNN Brasil
