The batch with the first doses of Pfizer’s childhood vaccine against Covid-19 would begin to be distributed to Brazilian states, according to the Ministry of Health’s forecast, between Thursday night (13) and Friday morning (14). ).
But as of Friday, at least seven states reported not having received or rescheduled flights with their promised portions of the 1.2 million doses of the immunizer. Another six states reported that deliveries are still on schedule. Only São Paulo is already in possession of the doses.
The doses are departed from the Federal Government Distribution Center, in the city of Guarulhos, in Greater São Paulo, for national distribution.
The first flights were scheduled to take off, from 10:15 pm on Thursday (13), towards the states of the Federal District, Goiás, Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco, Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul .
This Friday morning (14), the state of Rio Grande do Norte reported that pediatric doses had not arrived. “The load of vaccines against Covid-19 intended for children aged 5 to 11, which would arrive in Rio Grande do Norte in the early hours of this Friday (14), was not sent by the Ministry of Health”, informed the Secretary of Public Health. potiguar
“Sesap awaits new information from the Ministry to update the situation and possible change in the distribution of doses and at the beginning of the vaccination campaign for this age group”, adds the statement.
The executive secretary of Communication of Pernambuco reported the same situation to the correspondent of the CNN in Recife, Diego Barros. According to the Ministry, the Pernambuco government should have received 55,000 pediatric doses around 1 am on Friday.
Rio de Janeiro, which was supposed to receive its first batch of childhood vaccine at 00:45 on Friday, also reported that doses did not arrive. According to the Rio de Janeiro Health Department, the 93,500 doses should arrive this morning.
The Ministry of Health also changed the forecast for the arrival of doses that go to Paraná. Initially scheduled to arrive at 7:50 am this Friday, the immunizers will be sent to the Medicines Center of Paraná (Cemepar) on a flight scheduled to land at 1:50 pm.
Santa Catarina should receive 39,800 doses for vaccination of children from 5 to 11 years of age at 8:25 am this Friday (14). However, according to the correspondent of the CNN in Florianópolis, Gabrielle Ravasco, the flight landed without the immunizations.
The State Health Department discovered the situation only at the time of landing, and reported that the new arrival forecast of the immunizer is for 14:05.
Bahia reported that “for the third time, in less than 24 hours, the Ministry of Health rescheduled the delivery of vaccines”. Initially scheduled to arrive at 1:20 am on Friday, the new forecast is that the immunizing agent will arrive at 2:40 pm at Salvador Airport.
“Unfortunately, the inconsistency of information harms the planning of states and municipalities in the distribution of immunizations”, informed the Bahia State Health Department.
The Amazon also reported that the doses did not arrive in the state. “The Ministry of Health has rescheduled the sending of doses of vaccines to children in Amazonas, which was scheduled for this morning. The arrival forecast remains for this Friday (10/14), at a time to be confirmed”, informed the Secretary of Health.
A CNN contacted the Ministry of Health to comment on the delay in deliveries, but there has been no response so far.
The states of Tocantins, Paraíba, Espírito Santo, Roraima, Rondônia and Maranhão informed the CNN that are still within the deadline for the arrival of doses. These states have flights scheduled for late morning and early afternoon this Friday (14) with the first childhood vaccines.
São Paulo applies first dose for children this Friday (14)
As the Pfizer doses arrived in Brazil directly in São Paulo, the São Paulo government did not depend on the distribution of doses, like the other states.
The government of São Paulo announced that the start of vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 was brought forward to this Friday (14). The first doses will be administered at 12 noon, in an event at Hospital das Clínicas.
This Thursday (13), São Paulo had already registered more than 230 thousand children virtually pre-registered to receive the vaccine.
Eight capitals and the Federal District already have a schedule for childhood vaccinations
In addition to São Paulo, seven other capitals and the Federal District have already defined their schedules for vaccinating children from 5 to 11 years old, depending on the arrival of the doses.
According to a survey of CNN Agency, the capital of Palmas in Tocantins also intends to start childhood immunization this Friday (14).
The Health Department of Tocantins said that, so far, there has been no change in the expected arrival of doses in the state – scheduled for this Friday at 10:30 am.
Already Campo Grande intends to start the application of doses this Saturday (15).
The Federal District and the capital of Paraíba, João Pessoa, plan to start vaccination on Sunday, the 16th.
Rio de Janeiro, Goiânia and Teresina should start vaccinating children on Monday (17). Finally, Porto Alegre defined that it will start vaccinating children on Wednesday (19).
The other states said they will wait to receive the first doses to define when they will start childhood vaccination against Covid-19.
* With information from Diego Barros, Thayana Araújo, Gabrielle Ravasco, Giovanna Bronze and Diego Mendes, from CNN
Reference: CNN Brasil
