SAO PAULO - Brazil will give booster shots of a COVID-19 vaccine to immunosuppressed or vulnerable people and citizens over the age of 80, beginning on Sept. 15, Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said. In remarks to journalists in Brasília late on Tuesday, Queiroga said Pfizer's vaccine made in partnership with Germany's BioNTech will be used as the additional dose in those groups.
Queiroga said the decision stems from the spread of the Delta variant and the need to increase protection for more vulnerable people.
Brazil has had more than 20.6 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 575,000 fatalities linked to it.
According to data from the Health Ministry, as of Tuesday 123.9 million people had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil, or about 59% of the population.
Some 55.7 million had been completed imunized, equivalent to about 26.5% of the country's population, the data showed.