Brazil's Supreme Court Demands a COVID-19 Vaccination Calendar

Brazil's Supreme Court judge Ricardo Lewandowski Sunday gave President Jair Bolsonaro's administration 48 hours to publish details of the national vaccination campaign against the new coronavirus.

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His decision comes after the Executive presented a vaccination plan that did not specify the dates for the beginning and the closure of a national campaign nor the steps for ensuring the vaccination of 70 percent of the country's population.

In the campaign's first stage, the Health Ministry planned to vaccinate about 14 million people at high risk, including health workers, older adults, and Indigenous people. In the next stages, the goal was set to reach about 24 percent of the population (51.6 million people).

Nevertheless, the Bolsonaro administration argued that specific dates were not determined because the National Health Surveillance Agency has not yet approved the use of any COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccination program did not include the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine candidate, despite Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria informed that 46 million doses of this vaccine were secured and a vaccination campaign would start on January 25 next year.

On Sunday, a survey by local outlet Folha do Sao Paulo revealed that 22 percent of Brazilians do not plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as compared to 9 percent recorded in August.

As of Monday morning, Brazil had reported 6,903,833 COVID-19 cases and 181,460 deaths. The Southeastern region is the most affected by the virus, with 2.4 million confirmed cases and over 83,000 related deaths.