Unicamp has drawn up a schedule to begin vaccinating its professionals on the Campinas, Limeira and Piracicaba campuses against the coronavirus. The plan follows the guidelines drawn up by the State of São Paulo in relation to the dates for applying the two doses of vaccines and also to the public that will be prioritized in this first phase of vaccination. The expectation is that 12.200 people will be vaccinated by March 26th. Active and retired professionals will be vaccinated.
According to the coordination of the Community Health Center (Cecom), the definition of the day on which vaccination will begin at the University still depends on the approval procedures by Anvisa for the two vaccines available in the country, Coronavac and AstraZeneca/Oxford, and the distribution of doses to health units. However, Unicamp is working with a start date of January 25th, following the forecast of the São Paulo State Health Department.
"It is important to clarify that these vaccines are passed on from the State Department of Health to the Municipality of Campinas. Only then does the Municipality check all the city's demands and then transfer them to each Basic Health Unit, to the Unicamp Clinical Hospital, to Cecom, etc. Therefore, so far we have not yet received any delivery date or estimate of the number of vaccines we should receive. We still do not know how many vaccines we will have and when they will arrive", explains Patrícia Falabella Leme, coordinator. from Cecom.
She also points out that, as there is a possibility that the doses requested by Unicamp will be delivered little by little, a schedule was set up to define which people included in phase 1 will have priority. These criteria also respect the State Vaccination Plan. “It is important that we have a plan so that we can reach the people with the greatest need first, such as those who work in the Covid ICUs, and then the others”, she details.
Another planning that will be necessary is the administration of the two vaccines that should be available, Coronavac and AstraZeneca/Oxford. "The municipality's guidance is that we are prepared because the Federal Government's plan may begin and then we start working with it too, together with the state plan. In this case, we will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. To this end, we will follow the guidance that the first and second dose that the patient will receive must be from the same manufacturer", assesses Rôse Trevisane, deputy coordinator of Cecom.
The groups in phase 1 are health workers, including health professionals (doctors, nurses, among others) and other employees who are dedicated to other activities in these units, such as cleaning, janitorial and administration; elderly people over 60 years old; indigenous people and quilombolas. At Unicamp, this population totals around 12.200 people, including around 6.300 health workers, 5.700 elderly people and 150 indigenous people. Vaccination of these groups will respect the following schedule:
"It is precisely the people who need to be most protected in this first phase. Health workers need to be vaccinated to continue fulfilling their mission, to protect themselves and their families. The elderly have a very high chance of having a complication. In my opinion From afar, there is nothing that justifies someone's voluntary absence from this vaccination plan", advises Patrícia Leme.
At Unicamp, the vaccines will be administered at HC and Caism for health workers and at Cecom for elderly, indigenous and quilombola groups. The coordinators highlight that the HC must have more than one application site, to make it easier for the teams, and at Cecom, vaccination must take place in an environment separate from the common service space, to mainly preserve the health of the elderly public. The Limeira and Piracicaba campuses will be served by Cecom de Limeira teams, according to the same schedule.
Patrícia and Rôse advise the community to pay attention to Unicamp's communication channels. They will inform the start of the vaccination campaign, the groups that will begin receiving doses, and other details. They also emphasize that more information regarding vaccination will be provided with the sending of technical reports on vaccines by the Municipality's Epidemiological Surveillance. This should occur when doses begin to be distributed. Another observation made by the coordinators is that the dates foreseen by the plan may change if there are changes to the State Vaccination Plan.
Patrícia clarifies that joining the campaign is essential for beginning to control the pandemic in the country. "It is important that people think about the risk of the disease, not the vaccine. Because the vaccines that will come, have proven to be very safe. What people should think about is that, if they do not get vaccinated, they will have twice the chance of become infected with the virus, as well as a greater risk of suffering complications from Covid-19, if they become infected, thinking about them and all the people who have contact with them", he explains.
Rôse also adds that everyone who gets vaccinated must think not only about their own benefit, but also about everyone's health: "The more people who take the vaccine, the faster we can acquire this immunity. So we need to think collectively, because Covid is "It's a public health problem, it's a society problem. It's essential that people are aware of this and continue to maintain protective measures, regardless of whether they've had the vaccine: wearing a mask, hand hygiene and social distancing."
