The Brazilian Health Ministry is reportedly planning to revaccinate the entire population against the coronavirus in 2022. Budgetary uncertainties, however, leave municipal and state health departments concerned.
The Health Ministry promised to present a plan to tackle the pandemic next year, which is expected to include a revaccination timetable. The idea would be to source one extra dose per person — and ensure a purchase option if there is a further need for revaccination.
The drastic drop in the pandemic budget for 2022 worries health departments. The budgetary guidelines for next year foresee only BRL 7 billion (USD 1.3 billion) to be spent on coronavirus policies, down from BRL 47.1 billion this year. Carlos Lula, chairman of the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass), says the amount will not even be enough to buy supplies to revaccinate the population.
The government hopes to purchase new vaccines with BRL 33 billion that would be freed up by a constitutional amendment allowing the government to pay back less of its registered warrants — the so-called precatórios — next year.
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