Mayor of SP is seen as a ‘lone wolf’ by the government – 04/27/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

The mayor of the city of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), is being seen by the Ministry of Health as a kind of “lone wolf” in his complaints about the availability, by the folder, of doses of the bivalent vaccine against Covid-19.

On Monday (24), after the ministry extended the application of the booster to people over 18 years old, the emedebist complained that the São Paulo capital did not have enough immunizations for the entire adult population and that it had not been previously communicated about the expansion of the campaign vaccine.

A letter received by the Ministry of Health on the 18th would be proof that Ricardo Nunes is a dissonant voice even among São Paulo mayors, according to folder officials.

Sent by the Bipartite Intermanagers Commission (CIB), a body that brings together health managers from the state and municipalities of São Paulo, and by the Council of Municipal Health Secretaries of São Paulo (Cosems-SP), the document requested the expansion of the age groups that could be vaccinated in order to avoid waste.

“The municipalities receive the thawed vaccines, which reduces their validity period”, stated the managers. Less than a week after receiving the letter, the Ministry of Health responded to the demand and expanded the campaign against Covid-19 across the country.

Folder servers claim that it would not make sense to dispatch millions of doses to São Paulo before the municipality establishes a schedule and defines how many units will be needed for each stage of immunization.

Otherwise, they argue, there would be a risk that vaccines will lose their validity and need to be incinerated, as occurred under the management of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

At the ministry, the understanding is that the mayor of São Paulo should focus on overcoming the population’s hesitation in taking the bivalent vaccine instead of dedicating itself to complaints, since the folder would be ready to make the doses available at any time that are required.

“The perception of the demand for the bivalent vaccine has not corresponded to the initial expectation that the population would continue to seek vaccination as a way to prevent the disease”, said the letter from the CIB and Cosems-SP to the folder.

Due to the shared management model of the SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde), each Brazilian municipality has the autonomy to decide how to conduct the immunization campaign.

In the capital of São Paulo, the UBSs (Basic Health Units) already apply reinforcement in immunization against Covid-19 for the population from 50 years old. For the others, for the time being, the City of São Paulo has chosen to open enrollment for the bivalent vaccine, on the grounds that it does not have enough doses.

_{with BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH}

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