“These doubts remain from a technical point of view. Not so long ago, they started talking about the possibility of extending the duration of doses due to the fact that it was a problem of immunity, therefore, it would contribute to greater immunity if the doses were further apart, ”said Antonio Sales, addressing reporters during his visit to Santa Cruz da Trapa in São Pedro do Sul.
And he added: “Today they are talking about the opposite, namely in relation to the option, the“ Delta ”option. [associada à Índia], which means that this is also a technical issue that is being considered by the SRS and the technical commission for vaccination. “
Two doses of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines protect more than 90% of hospitalization in the event of a delta variant of the new coronavirus linked to India and potentially more infectious, according to a study published Monday by British health authorities.
A Public Health England (PHE) study indicates 96% protection from hospitalization after two doses of Pfizer vaccine and 92% for AstraZeneca.
Previous PHE analysis showed that two doses of the vaccine protected the Delta variant as effectively as the UK-associated alpha, but not a single dose.
According to Mary Ramsay, who is in charge of PHE vaccination, “it is absolutely imperative that both doses be obtained as soon as they are offered, in order to obtain maximum protection against all existing and new options.”
The European Commissioner for Health said on Tuesday that evidence is emerging that the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus “reduces the strength of the protective shield” created by vaccines, and called for accelerating the vaccination of the population.
“Evidence has emerged that variants, namely the Delta variant, reduce the protective shield provided by vaccines, especially when vaccination has not yet been completed. Therefore, it is imperative that as many citizens as possible are vaccinated against covid-19 and that they are vaccinated as soon as possible, ”said Stella Kyriakides.
On Friday, Portuguese health authorities confirmed the transmission among the population of the Delta variant of the new coronavirus, which is more evident in Lisbon and the Vale do Tejo region and which has already been identified by that date.
In April, Portuguese health authorities recommended administering the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 60, following a decision by other countries that also imposed age restrictions.
Restrictions have arisen after episodes associated with incidents of blood clots after vaccination, although rarely.
“It takes about three months between the first and second doses. This vaccine has a wide dose range. During these three months, we will have additional information from either the manufacturer or the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and we will act accordingly, ”said Director General of Health Graça Freitas.
According to data provided by Lusa on Tuesday by the “task force” of the covid-19 vaccination plan, one million AstraZeneca vaccines have already been administered and there are 250,000 vaccines in reserve out of a total of 450,000, due to uncertainties. about the delivery of orders by a pharmacist.
Antonio Lacerda Sales also said today that Portugal is “conducting research”, which is also being conducted internationally, on the options for the new coronavirus and the effectiveness of various vaccines, as well as the clinical profile of people hospitalized and whether or not they are vaccinated.
“All of this is very important for defining this process. This research is, of course, also carried out with due calm, because it is not only at the national level, but also at the international level, which needs to be monitored, monitored, this is not something that can be done in a few days, and then it may be some results are presented.
He announced on Tuesday that more than 4.3 million people in Portugal have already received their first dose of covid-19 vaccine, equivalent to 42% of the population, and nearly 2.6 million (25%) have been fully vaccinated. Exhibition General for Health (DGS).
According to the DGS weekly report, 4,346,711 people have already been vaccinated with the first dose, and 2,564,689 people have completed vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
According to the French agency AFP, the covid-19 pandemic has caused at least 3,824,885 deaths worldwide, resulting in more than 176.5 million infections.
In Portugal, of the 859,045 confirmed cases, 17,049 have died, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.
The disease is transmitted by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, discovered at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
