a Ministry of Health This was demonstrated on social media after complaining about the application of expired doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19, and denying the distribution of immunizations after the expiration date.
“The Ministry of Health does not distribute expired doses of the vaccine against Covid-19. The expiration dates of the immunization agents are thoroughly checked by the Ministry. The data for the application of doses by municipalities are entered into DataSUS,” the post reads.
The ministry stressed that local managers need to be aware of the expiration dates and that they should communicate if a batch is close to expiration. The file also stated that it had not received, so far, information on the type of municipalities.
According to a report by Folha de S.Paulo on Friday (2), more than 26,000 expired doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine could have been used in 1,532 municipalities by June 19.
National Health Surveillance Agency (infinity) said in a memo that he had not received a request for analysis to extend the validity of the immunizing agent and that he was not responsible for the acquisition and distribution of immunizing agents, noting that expired doses do not guarantee efficacy and safety.
The National Board of Municipal Health Secretaries (Kunasims) said that all cases are being investigated and that an error in the information system of the National Immunization Program (PNI) is not ruled out.
On Friday (2), the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) requested information from the Ministry of Health and Anvisa about the possibility of extrapolating the deadline. Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fucruz), which produces the Astrazeneca fortifying agent in Brazil, states that these batches were not produced in the country. Astrazeneca preferred not to comment.
The newspaper reported using data from the public DataSUS system, where all health departments record the applied and batch vaccine – the only official registration of the vaccination control. Municipalities and states claim that there may be an error filling in this data.
