Understand the bivalent Covid vaccine in 5 points – 04/25/2023 – Health

The Ministry of Health has decided to expand vaccination with a bivalent booster dose against Covid-19 to the entire population over 18 years of age and, in the city of São Paulo, people over 50 years of age will be able to take the updated vaccine as of this Wednesday. -Friday (26).

In the state, the Government of São Paulo announced that it will begin to distribute 600 thousand doses of the bivalent vaccine that were in stock for the 645 municipalities of the state.

The amount is still insufficient to meet the target audience of 23 million people across the state, but the administration says it has requested more vaccines from the federal government.

Until the arrival of the new doses, the reinforcement should occur in a staggered way, with priority for people of older age groups, as in the capital.

Across the country, the ministry estimates that 97 million people will be able to receive the bivalent vaccine, applied since February to specific groups, and each state must define how the vaccination schedule will be.

See, below, five points about the vaccine.

1. 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. This is what is being applied at this stage.

2. WHY TAKE THE BIVALENT VACCINE?

The updated vaccine offers greater protection to the omicron subvariants currently in circulation.

Monovalent vaccines are still highly effective in protecting against hospitalization and death, but protection eventually decreases over time. That’s why it’s important to get reinforcements, experts say.

3. WHAT ARE THE ADVERSE EVENTS RELATED TO BIVALENTE?

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 are pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, body aches (myalgia), fever, and chills. These are events considered mild and usually disappear within 24 hours.

Other very rare adverse events considered moderate to severe may include myocarditis (inflammation of the myocardium), pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium), chest pain, shortness of breath and arrhythmia. Read more here.

4. ARE THERE ANY CONTRAINDICATIONS?

No. What exists is an indication of the minimum interval between the last dose of any monovalent booster or the last dose of the primary scheme and the booster with the bivalent. That is: it is recommended to wait at least four months between one dose and another.

There is also an age limitation. Anvisa authorized the use of the bivalent as a booster for people aged 12 and over. Below that age, the booster should be with a monovalent vaccine.

5. How many months can pregnant women take the vaccine?

The Ministry of Health does not recommend a minimum or maximum number of months of pregnancy for pregnant women to receive the updated dose of the vaccine against Covid. In the country, reinforcement for pregnant and puerperal women began to be applied at the end of March.