Sao Paulo: Anvisa, Brazil’s health regulator, on Friday approved the use of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 years and up.
In January, Brazil’s Covid-19 vaccination drive began, which has been hit by shortages and delays. Around 11 percent of the country’s 212 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. Cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have only newly finished vaccinating the preference groups such as health workers and the elderly. Now, they are vaccinating the general population in descending order by age, and are currently vaccinating people in their 50s.
According to Anvisa, the approval was based on studies by Pfizer that ‘indicated the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness for this age group.’
Other than the US pharmaceutical giant’s vaccine, developed with German firm BioNTech, Brazil is presently using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and Chinese-developed CoronaVac. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also approved by the regulators, but the government has not yet reached a deal to purchase it.
Brazil has strived to obtain enough vaccine doses. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faces criticism for denying offers of vaccines last year, including from Pfizer, and instead of starting the ineffective medication chloroquine against Covid-19.
Covid has taken the lives of more than 480,000 people in Brazil, second only to the United States.
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