The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) received new data from the Butantan Institute on the request for authorization for the use of the Coronavac vaccine, against Covid-19, for children aged 3 to 5 years.
According to Anvisa, the additional information was received on Wednesday (1st). The submission was agreed at a meeting held on May 25th as a criterion for the continuation of the evaluation of the request.
Anvisa also informed that it will start the technical analysis and will assess the need for further discussions on the subject with medical societies.
Anvisa received a request from the Butantan Institute to include the age group from 3 to 5 years in the Coronavac indication on March 11th.
Coronavac is already used in children and adolescents in different countries, including China, Hong Kong, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Thailand and Cambodia.
China authorized the use of the vaccine in children from three years of age in June 2021. Chile announced the change in the age group in September, initially covering children aged 6 to 12 years. The expansion to the age group over 3 years was approved by the Chilean health agency in November.
Colombia started vaccinating children with the vaccine in November 2021. As of early February, 4.2 million children aged 3 to 11 had already received the vaccine.
In January, Thailand authorized the use of Coronavac in children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years. In February, it was the turn of Cambodia, Ecuador and Hong Kong.
Characteristics such as efficacy, safety and ability to generate an immune response were evaluated from clinical trials in different countries, such as South Africa, Chile, Malaysia, Philippines and Kenya.
Countries such as Malaysia, Dominican Republic and Paraguay have approved the administration of Coronavac for children over 5 years old.
Source: CNN Brasil
