Since February 30, the National Health Surveillance Agency has been analyzing Pfizer’s request for the release of a bivalent vaccine, which could contain the spread of the new Omicron subvariant
Amid the escalation of new cases of covid-19 throughout the country, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has convened an extraordinary meeting for next Tuesday, 22, in which it will decide on the urgent request for the release of the new vaccine from Pfizer, of the bivalent type, which guarantees immunization against two strains of the new coronavirus. The agency’s technicians will meet at 6 pm to deliberate on two requests for the use of the US company’s immunizer in the population over the age of 12.
The request for the urgent use of the new immunizer was forwarded by Pfizer to Anvisa on September 30 of this year. Since then, the agency has been analyzing the question. Before the meeting was convened, the agency was silent about the deadline for completing the procedure. Anvisa and the Ministry of Health also said they had no information indicating when the new doses could start to be applied.
In a note released last week, Anvisa states that “the processes are in the final phase of analysis by the technical area”. The next step at the end of the evaluation by the technicians is the forwarding of the opinion to the Board of the Institution for the resolution of the request for urgent use. When questioned, Avisa replies that the date for the decision has not yet been set and anticipates that the measures should be adopted “soon”.
Pfizer’s bivalent vaccine contains a mixture of strains of the SarsCov-2 virus. The immunizer provides greater protection against the Ômicron variant of the coronavirus, responsible for one of the most serious waves of infections and deaths from the disease in the country, at the end of 2021.
As shown the Stage, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) has identified a new variant of Ômicron in the state of Amazonas. The emergence of this strain, which has greater transmission potential and resistance to vaccine barriers, has coincided with the increase in covid-19 cases in the country. A bulletin from Fioceuz’s InfoGripe panel released last week indicated an increase in the number of cases of the disease in four states (Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo).
Data from Fiocruz indicate that, since mid-October, Amazonas has seen an increase in cases. In this time, the moving average has gone from about 230 to 1000 cases a week in the state.
Questioned by Estadão, the Ministry of Health did not say whether it should recommend the adoption of stricter protocols to combat the disease, or whether it is considering re-declaring a state of calamity to deal with the virus. Despite this, last week the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health published a technical note recommending the use of masks by the population.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), who works in the working groups of the transitional government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), criticized the performance of the Health portfolio in the last stretch of the President’s Health management. According to the MP, a lack of immunizers with the ability to contain new strains of covid-19 could lead a country to a new “pandemic” of the disease.
“The health situation, in which second generation vaccines have not been purchased, leaving the country on the brink of a new covid-19 pandemic, when the entire globe is managing to control it, precisely, through the acquisition of vaccines. with public debt over the limit, with a fiscal deficit so far ranging from R$800 billion to R$1 trillion,” Randolfe said.
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Source: Terra
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.
