Specialists suggest expanding the coverage of the first booster, which is 48.9%, and the second, 16.2%, as well as accelerating the immunization of children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years.
Brazil has seen an increase in cases of COVID-19just like us United States, in Europe and China. Faced with the new wave, other countries, such as Italy, and part of the Brazilian cities are already expanding the indication of the 5th dose. Doctors listened to Estadiohowever, they advocate increasing coverage with the 3rd and 4th injection, but do not see the need to expand the audience taking the 5th – currently reserved for immunosuppressed patients, such as cancer or transplant patients.
Coverage for the 3rd booster injection in the country is 48.9% and for the 4th, 16.2%. The share of children immunized with at least one dose is also low: only 52.5%, aged between three and eleven. Another recommendation from experts, especially for the most vulnerable groups, is to wear masks indoors and avoid contact in case of flu symptoms.
There are cities that have already extended the fifth dose to a wider audience, such as lemon Tree (SP), which offers it to all over 50s, and Tatuí (SP), which recommends it to all adults. the city of Rio de Janeiro also wants to extend the recommendation to everyone, after confirming the circulation of the Omicron sub-variant BQ.1 over the weekend. Italy, in October, decided to administer the 5th dose to the elderly over 80 years old.
The Sao Paulo State Council of Municipal Health Secretaries reported that there is no guide for municipalities to apply the 5th dose to the general population, only to immunocompromised patients undergoing clinical evaluation. The State Department of Health reported that it currently applies the fifth injection to immunosuppressed patients 18 years of age and older as well as the general population, 40 years of age and older, who have started the vaccination program with Janssen.
Alexandre Naime Barbosa, an infectologist, professor and vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases, does not see the need for a 5th dose for everyone. “In immunosuppressed patients, the baseline regimen is considered with three doses, plus two boosters, for a total of five. In the general population, the baseline regimen is two doses and then we have booster doses 3 and 4,” he explains. .
“More important than the expansion of doses to the 5th and 6th doses, is to ensure high coverage of the 4th dose for people over the age of 40,” says Julio Croda, an infectious disease specialist at Fiocruz. “The important thing is that most people have taken a booster dose in the past four months,” she points out.
Another strategy to contain the new sub-variant is the use of Pfizer’s bivalent vaccine, updated for the most recently identified strains of the virus. Preliminary studies have already shown that this new version of the virus has a better chance of escaping the protection offered by immunizers already applied.
“BQ.1 has a greater escape from the immune response and we already have data on the neutralizing antibody, which is related to protection against infections. Therefore, it is clear that the bivalent vaccine guarantees a higher level of neutralizing antibodies and, therefore, higher protection for BQ.1 ?, says Croda.
An application for authorization for emergency use of the ambivalent vaccine in Brazil was submitted by Pfizer to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) in September, but has not yet been evaluated. In a statement, the drug company said it is still investigating the effectiveness of the bivalent immunizer against sub-variant BQ.1 and hopes to have hard data soon.
wanted, the anvisa he stated that “the processes are in the final phase of analysis by the technical area, to be subsequently forwarded to the board” for the resolution. The ambivalent vaccine is now available in Europe, the United States, Japan, Argentina, Chile, among other countries.
In note, the Ministry of Health said it would monitor the evolution of vaccination coverage for all age groups. Until the afternoon of this Monday, 7, more than 519 million doses have been distributed in proportion to the entire country, the file reads. Also according to the agency, the importance of reinforcement is reinforced through campaigns.
For Evaldo Stanislau, an infectious disease specialist at the USP Hospital das Clínicas, it is also necessary to speed up the vaccination of children in the range of six months to two years. The immunizer was already bought by the federal government in October, but the doses are expected to be released only this week. “It would be important to close the doors to the virus in populations that facilitate its spread, as in the case of pediatric patients, before talking about extending the 5th dose to the population as a whole,” he warns.
The use of the mask must be evaluated, experts say
According to Alexandre Naime Barbosa, it is recommended that everyone carry out an individual risk assessment and take care based on their health condition. The guideline is that older people over 75, people who have had a recent organ transplant, patients with lupus disease, and those who are immunosuppressed in general avoid clusters and wear masks every time they enter. in contact with other people.
In Pernambuco, the Department of Health has again recommended masks for the elderly, immunosuppressed and people with flu symptoms, after verifying an increase in infections. In Recife, the test positive rate went from 15.5% in the last week of October to 25.1% in the first week of November. “Those with flu-like symptoms should wear a mask, test for the disease and respect the isolation period. Elderly and immunocompromised people should also wear a face shield,” recommended the Undersecretary of State for Health, André Longo.
Rio Grande do Sul, another place where the circulation of the BQ.1 variant has already been confirmed, also recommends a mask for the immunocompromised, the elderly and people with comorbidities in closed or poorly ventilated places. Those who have respiratory symptoms or have contact with confirmed covid-19 patients should also wear protection.
People with normal health conditions and not the elderly should wear the mask only in closed environments, with agglomeration and without air circulation. If infected, they should wear masks whenever they come into contact with other people.
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Source: Terra
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