Part of the Brazilian population should receive a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The assessment was carried out on Monday (16) by the Minister for Combating Covid-19 at the Ministry of Health, Rosanna Melo.
While participating in the Senate Interim Committee on Covid-19 meeting, the secretary assessed that the North American experience – prompted by the advance of the delta variant of the virus and the easing of health measures – with one additional dose, Brazil should follow. This is the case for people with weakened immune systems such as transplant recipients, people with HIV/AIDS, and cancer patients.
We have some preliminary studies, but those studies haven’t been published yet. These are internal discussions, we can’t even advertise that much, out of respect for the researchers, but we’re really making management-level decisions, what to do, what to plan, identifying those groups that need, like what happened last week in the United States.” And according to Rosanna also, in Brazil, priority groups, if the strategy is confirmed, should not differ from those prioritized in the United States.
Countries that apply the third dose already rely on studies that indicate that immunity decreases over time.
doubts
When answering senators’ questions about a possible immune-boosting dose against the novel coronavirus, experts made clear that some issues are still being studied. On that list there are questions about which immune system can get a third dose and whether a person can take a booster dose of a different vaccine than the one they took at the beginning.
Delta
Specifically about the delta variant, the assessment of the Ministry of Health is that in Brazil, he appeared more shy, but the panorama is changing. In this scenario, the relaxation of preventive measures by health and population managers contributed to the increase in the number of cases.
“We understand our Latin culture, but there was a relaxation even among the most knowledgeable about it,” he said.
Also during the public hearing, researcher at the Sérgio Arouca School of Public Health, Margareth Dalcomo, acknowledged that some groups, such as older adults who have taken CoronaVac, people with disabilities and health professionals, may need reinforcement. Despite this, Dalcomo emphasized that there are still no studies of sufficient strength on the third dose.
“We have stopped hospitalizing elderly patients and are back in hospital. The vast majority have been vaccinated with the coronavirus,” Margaret said. The researcher added that monitoring identified delta-variable prevalence in Rio de Janeiro, with an increase in hospitalizations in the past 10 days.
The director of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Meiruze de Sousa Freitas, defended the need for a decision on the application of an additional dose of the vaccine against covid-19 with caution. According to her, for reinforcing cases, most countries have recommended doses of the same vaccine already taken, but in some cases interchangeability is allowed.
When giving a presentation on how the third-dose discussion would take place in other countries, Meroz explained that there are discussions in the UK, France and Germany, which should follow the experience of Israel, which has already adopted the procedure. In Chile, for older adults who have been vaccinated with CoronaVac, the recommendation is to apply a new dose. We are notifying Pfizer at [última] Tuesday, and we have scheduled meetings for this week to discuss the data presented,” he said. In the United States, third-dose vaccines that use messenger RNA, such as Pfizer and Moderna, have been approved.
Meroz de Sousa also pointed out the importance of vaccinating the entire population with at least two doses of the vaccine, which has not yet happened.
AIDS newsroom with information from Agência Brasil
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