Brazil green-lights Pfizer vaccine for kids 12 and up

Brazil’s nicely being regulator accredited the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Friday for mutter in kids historical 12 and up, though they’re going to likely need to lend a hand months in line for older age groups to be vaccinated first.

Hit exhausting by the pandemic, Brazil joins countries including the usa, Uruguay and Chile in extending vaccination to minors.

Nonetheless, supply complications mean the transfer is essentially symbolic for now.

Brazil’s COVID-19 vaccination power, which started in January, has been hit by shortages and delays.

Round 11 p.c of the nation’s 212 million people were fully vaccinated to date.

Cities comparable to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro possess handiest fair not too long ago carried out vaccinating precedence groups comparable to nicely being workers and the elderly.

They are now vaccinating the long-established inhabitants in descending declare by age, and are for the time being immunizing people of their 50s.

The nicely being regulator, Anvisa, acknowledged the approval became per reports by Pfizer that “indicated the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness for this age group.”

Besides to the US pharmaceutical huge’s vaccine, developed with German agency BioNTech, Brazil is for the time being the mutter of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and Chinese language-developed CoronaVac.

Regulators possess also accredited the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, nonetheless the authorities has not but reached a deal to obtain it.

Brazil has struggled to supply ample vaccine doses.

A ways-upright President Jair Bolsonaro faces criticism for refusing offers of vaccines final yr, including from Pfizer, and as an alternative pushing the ineffective medicine chloroquine against COVID-19.

The pandemic has claimed bigger than 480,000 lives in Brazil, 2d handiest to the usa.

© 2021 AFP