São Paulo releases bivalent vaccine against Covid on Wednesday – 04/25/2023 – Health

The City of São Paulo announced that it will release the bivalent vaccine against Covid, starting on Wednesday (26), for the public aged 50 or over.

Municipal management claims it received an additional 161 thousand doses to expand immunization. “Our network is structured to vaccinate the entire population with the bivalent Pfizer dose, we have 470 UBSs prepared to carry out the immunization. As there are more than 9 million people over 18 years old in the capital, we will expand vaccination as we receive new lots”, said the municipal secretary of Health, Luiz Carlos Zamarco.

The Government of São Paulo announced that it will begin, this Wednesday (26), to distribute 600,000 doses of the bivalent vaccine against Covid-19 to 645 municipalities. The amount is insufficient to meet the target audience of 23 million people across the state.

This Monday (24), the Ministry of Health expanded vaccination with a bivalent booster dose against Covid-19 for the entire population over 18 years old.

In light of the announcement, the Secretary of State for Health claims to have requested more immunizers from the federal government. These 600 thousand doses, according to Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), belong to the state government stock.

“The portfolio has already requested new doses from the Ministry of Health and is waiting, with speed, for the other immunizers to be sent by the federal government”, says the note from the secretariat.

Given the lack of vaccines, the campaign should start in stages. People of higher age groups will be given priority.

“What we have in stock today, plus the amount already distributed to the municipalities previously, is enough to start immunizing this public, however, it is necessary that, as soon as possible, we can receive a new shipment from the ministry to supply the municipalities and continue with immunization for the entire population”, said Tatiana Lang D’Agostini, director of the Center for Epidemiological Surveillance (CVE) of the State of São Paulo.

About 97 million Brazilians can look for health units. Each state must define how the immunization schedule will be.

Anyone who has received at least two doses of monovalent vaccines (Coronavirus, Astrazeneca or Pfizer) can take the bivalent vaccine, respecting a four-month interval between the last dose.

According to the State Department of Health, more than 3.3 million doses were applied throughout the state, covering only 23% of the eligible population.

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Learn more about the bivalent vaccine against Covid

WHAT IS A BIVALENT VACCINE?

Bivalent vaccines are updated versions of Covid immunizers containing the original Wuhan strain combined with the omicron variant, currently prevalent worldwide.

In Brazil, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) approved the emergency use of two bivalent Pfizer formulations (containing subvariants BA.1 and BA.4/BA.5 of omicron). The agency authorized the use of immunizers as boosters for people aged 12 and over.

WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS?

In general, the updated omicron vaccines maintain the same safety standard as the monovalent forms already authorized and used by billions of people around the world.

In general, the most common effects that have been reported are pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, body aches (myalgia), fever and chills.

Such effects have also been reported with boosters of monovalent vaccines and are considered mild, with symptoms disappearing within 24 hours.

Health professionals are advised at vaccination posts to monitor the intensity of the effects and, if necessary, to use common analgesic drugs for treatment.

Other less common side effects considered moderate to severe may include myocarditis (inflammation of the myocardium), pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium), chest pain, shortness of breath, and arrhythmia.

ARE THERE ANY CONTRAINDICATIONS FOR BIVALENT BOOST?

In scientific studies, there were no side effects of bivalent vaccines different from those observed with monovalent vaccines, with a general incidence of mild effects, such as pain at the application site, fever and muscle aches.

There is also no contraindication to receiving the Covid vaccine in conjunction with other vaccines, such as the flu. Updating vaccination with boosters can be done after four months since the last vaccine applied.