Health Ministry backtracks on vaccination recommendations for cities

On Friday, an association of Brazilian mayors declared that Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello promised a change to the country’s vaccination strategy, removing an obligation for local governments to set aside doses to administer booster jabs to those who have received a first shot. However, in a technical note released on Tuesday evening, the Health Ministry ignored this pledge and upheld its request for municipalities to reserve vaccines for booster shots.

“Due to the interval between both doses [two to four weeks] and the fact that there is not a regular production flow of the vaccine, we advise that second doses should be reserved to ensure that the vaccination schedule is completed within this period,” reads the official document.

Last week, the National Front of Mayors said Mr. Pazuello gave assurances that the pace of vaccine manufacturing would allow cities to immunize as many citizens as possible, without the need to hold back doses for second jabs.

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