São Paulo to start vaccinating police officers and teachers in April

In a press conference this afternoon, São Paulo Governor João Doria announced that 530,000 workers in public security and education will begin to receive Covid-19 vaccines as of April 5 and 12, respectively. 

The announcement comes one day after the state hit an all-time record of Covid-19 deaths, registering 1,021 fatalities on Tuesday alone, translating into three deaths every four minutes and bringing up the state’s total death toll to 68,623.  

During the conference, the state government also criticized the “flawed” national vaccination plan in a dig at President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been in direct conflict with state governors since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Other decisions

On Tuesday, the government temporarily closed 18 drive-thru vaccine centers in the city of São Paulo, after immunizing 84 percent of citizens aged 72 to 74 in the state capital. Mr. Doria said the vaccination of 69 to 71-year-olds will be brought forward to this Friday.

During the conference, Mr. Doria announced that São Paulo’s Butantan Biological Institute provided another 2.2 million CoronaVac vaccine doses to the national immunization campaign. Over 14 million doses were distributed in March, short of the initial goal of 21 million. Butantan plans to deliver another 54 million vaccines by August 30. 

As The Brazilian Report explained, despite the recent increase in cases and deaths, São Paulo’s vaccination campaign is progressing well, with a per capita immunization rate higher than Argentina and the rest of Brazil. The São Paulo government announced it has administered a total of 5 million jabs so far, almost 40 percent of all vaccines given in Brazil.

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