Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello is shocked by his suggestion that vaccines work against new changes without providing evidence for claims.
A variant of coronavirus identified in Brazil’s Amazon may be three times more contagious but an early study shows vaccines remain effective against it, the country’s health minister said Thursday, without providing evidence for the applications.
Under pressure as the recession hits the jungle city of Manaus with a second wave of catastrophic disease, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello has tried to reassure legislators that the recent rise in months has only been expected. coming under control.
He also told a Senate hearing that Brazil would have vaccinated half the population eligible by June and the rest by the end of the year – an ambitious target as the country has barely promised doses for half the population. the population.
Brazil started vaccinating with vaccines made by Sinovac Biotech in China and British AstraZeneca about three weeks ago. Pazuello did not explain how the effectiveness against the Manaus variant was studied.
“Thank God we had clear news from the study that the vaccines against this variant are still effective,” said Pazuello. “But it’s more contagious. According to our analysis, it is three times more contagious. ”
The Ministry of Health, which did not provide information on such an investigation, did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
The Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, which has partnered with Sinovac to test and implement the Chinese vaccine, said in a statement that it had begun studies on the Manaus version but would not make a decision. for two weeks.
Fiocruz biochemical plant in Rio de Janeiro, which has teamed up with AstraZeneca to supplement and complete doses of its vaccine developed by Oxford University, said it is studying its effectiveness against the Amazon version. , sending samples to Oxford and awaiting results.
Set deep in the Amazon rainforest, Manaus has been hit hard by a brutal second wave of cases that has stretched emergency services to an advanced level.
City hospitals ran out of oxygen in January, prompting the federal government to fly supplies from across the country in a bid to save people from suffering to death.
President Jair Bolsonaro has reduced the deadly virus, even when he contracted the disease.
His administration has also been accused of taking slow action in obtaining vaccines, thereby delaying the distribution of the vaccine.
The delay leaves 210 million Brazilian residents vulnerable to one of the worst coronavirus events on the planet.
As of Thursday, Brazil has reported more than 9.7 million coronavirus cases with more than 236,000 deaths from COVID-19 – second only to the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. They have launched a vaccination campaign but so far only about 0.5 per cent of the population have been shot.