In response to a recommendation from the Butantan Institute, the city of São Paulo announced, this Tuesday (25), the extension of the interval between the first and second application of Coronavac in children from 14 to 28 days. In an interview with CNN, pediatrician and infectologist Marco Aurélio Sáfadi considered that the decision is correct, since this period between one dose and another allows an optimization in the level of antibodies produced.
“It is a correct decision that, in fact, re-establishes that interval that ideally we understand as being the correct one to reach and optimize the production of antibodies. In studies with children and adolescents, when one dose is separated from the other at 28 days, higher antibody levels are reached than those reached when this interval is 14 days”, said the doctor.
Sáfadi also pointed out that higher levels of antibodies add value “in terms of optimizing protection and also in terms of the duration of protection after the second dose.”
The president of the Scientific Department of Infectious Diseases of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics also defended the safety and efficacy of childhood immunization, and denied rumors that vaccines that use technology involving messenger RNA, such as the Pfizer vaccine, can alter DNA. of children.
“We already have enough elements toTo know the profile of vaccines in adverse effects. This messenger RNA story is absolutely bereft of plausibility,” said the doctor.
According to Sáfadi, adverse events produced by vaccines do not take long to occur and, in general, are “effects immediately observed in the first days and weeks after vaccination”. The infectologist also pointed out that when there is infection by Covid-19, the RNA of the virus will also be present in the body to stimulate the production of antibodies.
Vaccination of children against Covid-19 in Brazil:
“We have no doubt that vaccines are one of the main instruments of public health in the history of humanity”, reinforced the pediatrician.
Sáfadi also considered that there is a possibility that Covid-19 could become an endemic disease, with the virus circulating among the population. However, the effects of the disease can be greatly minimized by the vaccine.
“What will remain for the future is that vaccines played a fundamental role in terms of allowing humanity to live with this virus in a very different way than what we saw in 2020 and part of 2021. Surely what will come ahead will only consolidate this concept and allow us to continue having the benefit of preventing infectious diseases that are subject to vaccine protection”, concluded the infectious disease specialist and pediatrician.
Reference: CNN Brasil
