The Minas state government denied that the vaccines could be used for political purposes and said it was in line with the Ministry of Health’s National Immunization Plan (PNI).

In a conversation with Radio Reportage ItatiaiaState Health Secretary Fabio Bacqueretti explained that since Belo Horizonte has already vaccinated all people with underlying medical conditions, the doses are now targeted at cities that have not yet been able to vaccinate this entire priority group.

“The expectations of each municipality regarding the number of doses are not always confirmed when vaccines come from the Ministry of Health. Every dose sent to the state is stamped. The doses for the comorbidity group arrived last week. Belo Horizonte received far more doses for this group than any other municipality in Minas Gerais because the first two batches of doses from Pfizer were delivered exclusively to the capital, ”he explains.

The Secretary of State adds: “In other shipments, these new doses were distributed to other cities in the state. By the time vaccines for the co-morbidity group arrive, the group she leads, the Center for Emergency Medical Operations (Coes), is analyzing the number of patients in the group. Thus, Belo Horizonte did not receive the 70,000 people as expected because other municipalities did not receive enough doses to immunize this entire priority group. We know that the capital has already won this priority group, but there are several municipalities that are still vaccinating people with comorbid conditions, ”he explained.

Fabio Bacqueretti’s position is in response to a statement by Belo Horizonte Health Minister Jackson Machado, who said the capital received 50,000 fewer doses of the vaccine last week than expected.

During the speech, the Minister of Health of the capital of the state of Minas Gerais even said that, in his opinion, political factors influenced the distribution, which Bakkeretti denied.

“I was very surprised, because Jackson is a secretary who actively participates in discussions with me, and we constantly talk, and the political factor is not taken into account in the distribution of doses. I don’t even participate. The secretary or any other non-technical employee is involved in this assignment. The discussion is carried out by the technical area of ​​the secretariat with the technical area of ​​the Council of Municipal Secretaries of Health, the Ministry of State and the Office of the Public Defender, which determines this, ”he says.

Regarding the situation in the state of Minas Gerais with fewer drugs in the intubation kit, Bacqueretti says this is because the state has good planning that has allowed the public administration to procure the kits for distribution to municipalities and be less dependent. from the public of the ministry.

“It’s just the opposite. Good planning in the state that managed to buy Kit Intubation made stocks in Minas better than stocks in other states. When the Department of Health distributes the intubation kit, it checks the stock of each state and organization. Our organizational model is a model for the country. If Minas receives fewer drugs than other states, it is because Minas has been able to obtain other forms of supply by purchasing directly from suppliers and distributing them across states, ”he says.