Over-50s to be offered 4th dose of COVID vaccine in Brazil

Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga has announced that over-50s will now be eligible for a fourth COVID vaccine. Until now, the federal government was only offering a second booster jab to over-60s and immunosuppressed people, Report informs via Brazilian media.

“We have vaccines. The federal government is prepared for this,” Marcelo Queiroga told reporters as he announced the measure in Brasília.

In practice, certain states and municipalities have already started offering a fourth vaccine to the over-50s, based on local stock and vaccination rates. At the national level, almost 80 percent of the Brazilian population is fully vaccinated against COVID and some 45 percent have had their first booster. Brazil has seen a rise in COVID cases in recent weeks, leading some authorities to recommend the use of face masks indoors again, with scientists speaking of the beginning of the fourth wave of infections.