A resident of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will need to explain to health authorities how he managed to get five shots of different vaccines against the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in 10 weeks, French news agency AFP reported on Friday.
Between 12 May and 21 July, the man received two doses each of the Pfizer and Coronavac vaccines and one AstraZeneca jab, according to TV Globo, which was able to view his digital vaccination card. In one case he was able to obtain two doses just 13 days apart. He was detected when he went for what would have been his sixth dose on 16 August.
The Rio city council stated on Friday in a letter to AFP that the health authorities would contact him so that he can explain how he was able to receive the injections in multiple vaccination centres.
The municipality said the man had gone to three different centres and had taken advantage of computer failures, according to the G1 information site.
The Health Secretariat said, for its part, that it was able to “identify this man in the registers” and that it would take “the necessary measures.”
To be vaccinated, Brazilians need to be in the age group corresponding to the announced schedule, present an identification card and, to receive the second jab, an injection certificate for the first dose. Vaccination centres do not propose any choice between the different vaccines.
The city of Rio has been hard hit by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and it has had to suspend vaccinations due to a shortage of vaccines. However, hundreds of cases of fraud have been reported, with people travelling to centres in states such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais to receive the vaccine of their choice or a third dose.
Brazil has the world’s second highest death toll, after the United States, with over 570,000 persons dying from the virus.
However, contrary to many other countries, support for vaccination is very high in Brazil.
The Brussels Times
