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Brazil starts vaccine booster shots while many still await 2nd jab

Published:Saturday | September 4, 2021 | 10:33 AM
Andre Luiz da Silva, 70, is injected with a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a third dose campaign for elderly residents in long-term care institutions, at a retreat for elderly artists, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Some cities in Brazil are providing booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though most people have yet to receive their second jabs, in a sign of the concern in the country over the highly contagious delta variant. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Some cities in Brazil are providing booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though most people have yet to receive their second jabs, in a sign of concern over the highly contagious delta variant.

Rio de Janeiro, currently Brazil's epicentre for the variant and home to one of its largest elderly populations, began administering the boosters Wednesday.

Northeastern cities Salvador and Sao Luis started on Monday, and the most populous city of Sao Paulo will begin on September 6.

The rest of the nation will follow next week.

France, Israel, China and Chile are among those countries giving boosters to some of their older citizens, but more people in those countries are fully vaccinated than the 30% who have gotten two shots in Brazil.

A US plan to start delivery of booster shots by September 20 for most Americans is facing complications that could delay third doses for those who received the Moderna vaccine, administration officials said Friday.

Because of the variant, some experts say the government should slow the rollout of boosters and focus on distributing second doses.

Delta is the most contagious variant identified, and many studies have suggested that one dose doesn't protect against it.

Two shots provide strong protection, with nearly all hospitalisations and deaths among the unvaccinated.

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