The first batch of vaccines against monkeypox should arrive in Brazil later this month, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said in an interview with the program. Brazil on the Agendagives TV Brazil.
The negotiation, carried out with the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, has the intermediation of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
In this first wave, 50,000 immunizers should be available, the same ones used to fight smallpox.
According to the minister, vaccines are not for the entire population, but for specific groups. “There is no recommendation, at the moment, for mass vaccination”, explained Queiroga.
Among the specific groups are health professionals who deal directly with samples from infected people and people who have had contact with carriers of the virus. “Studies already show that such a dose can be divided into five doses. So we can benefit a greater number of people. At first, they are those who have contact with the contaminated material,” said Queiroga.
The Minister of Health also reinforced the differences between monkeypox and covid-19. According to Queiroga, in addition to lethality, the covid-19 virus showed numerous mutations during the pandemic, which is not observed with monkeypox, which was first mapped in Africa in 1976.
Queiroga also reinforced that the monkeypox contagion rates are falling in the world and stable in Brazil. “All over the world, the outbreak has decreased, the rate of progression of cases is lower and we are in a plateau phase with a decline. So we hope that this outbreak is controlled”, defended Queiroga.
In addition to the emergency importation of doses of vaccine against monkeypox, the Ministry of Health also received emergency authorization from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to import the antiviral Tecovirimat, that must be used in serious and specific situations. “The use is in situations where we no longer have alternatives for these patients”, stressed the Minister of Health.
national vaccine
The Ministry of Health is also working on the development of a national immunizer to fight the disease. The vaccine is expected to be operational in the second half of next year. But for that, according to Minister Queiroga, the epidemiological scenario has to indicate the need to expand the target audience of vaccination.
“It is something that is being worked on, in research. We have already received the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which we call seed, which then generates the IFA production, and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, through Biomanguinhos, has the capacity to scale. But that is if there is an indication of vaccination for a larger group of people.”
Monkeypox has signs and symptoms that are characterized by skin lesions and rashes, fever, body aches, headache, chills and weakness.
The program Brazil on the Agenda with the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, airs this Sunday (18), at 10:30 pm, on TV Brazil.
