The government wants to diversify vaccine suppliers and create a platform to track supplies

At a press conference, the minister denied the shortages and said vaccinations were the “absolute priority”

BRASILIA- The Ministry of Health wants to diversify vaccine suppliers to avoid gaps in the supply of vaccines in the country and intends to create a platform to monitor stocks and monitor the distribution of doses throughout the national territory.

The measures were announced on Monday 25th in a press conference to provide clarification on the shortage of vaccines in some locations. As shown by Estadão, 11 states and the Federal District recorded a lack of vaccinations last week. According to the department, the problems are specific and occur due to routine complications in vaccine production.

“An important action is to diversify the supplier laboratories so that we have options. This is an action that is already underway. For example, with chickenpox (against chickenpox), We already have three suppliers, one local and one international. (the third is the Pan American Health Organization)”said Eder Gatti, director of the Department of the National Immunization Program (PNI).

“The same thing for vaccines against meningitis. We have more than one supplier precisely to diversify and not leave the program hostage to a single contract,” he added.

The minister Nisia Trindade gave an opening speech, but left the press conference before answering reporters’ questions to attend a meeting with the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In her speech, she said the government considered vaccination the “absolute priority” and reiterated that she had come into office in a scenario where millions of doses were close to expiring, with no control of supplies.

“The increase in vaccination coverage continues as a reality. As I stated, we cannot talk about a shortage of vaccines in Brazil, proof of this is that this Saturday a D-Day took place in several municipalities. A D-Day of vaccination with a vaccine shortage would be impossible,” he said.

Nísia said “there are specific issues” affecting some vaccines and that the department has found solutions for each of them.

According to the secretaries of state, the vaccines with low supplies until 18 were: covid-19, varicella (chickenpox), triple viral (measles, mumps and rubella), tetraviral (measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox), yellow fever, DTP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), dTpa (acellular version of the vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), HPV (which protects girls from cervical cancer and boys from penile cancer)ACWY meningococcal (against types A, C, W and Y of meningitis), hepatitis A, hepatitis B and rabies.

Inventory tracking tool

According to the department’s executive secretary, Swedenberger Barbosa, a tool is being built at the ministry to assist in inventory management and purchases of vaccines, inputs and medicines. The measure, which does not yet have a launch date, would help entities to make decisions more quickly in the management of the Unified Health System (SUS).

“(At the moment) These are outdated systems that do not communicate and are incomplete. These are therefore situations that make the manager’s action very difficult”, stated the secretary.

“This platform will ensure the interoperability of systems, update systems and make a set of information available to the Union, States and municipalities at the same time,” Barbosa added. For him, the tool will avoid any conflict between the federal, state and municipal spheres, since the data will be publicly exposed.

In September, a study by the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM) showed that 64.7% of the 2,415 cities surveyed reported a lack of vaccines. At the time the ministry had released a technical note reporting problems with suppliers.

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.