Brazil should receive the first pediatric doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer next Thursday (13). The immunizing agent must arrive at 3:40 am in Viracopos, in the city of Campinas, on a Latam flight that will depart from Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
According to the analyst at CNN, Basilia Rodrigues, the Ministry of Health already has a strategy to accelerate the distribution of this amount of 1.248 million doses.
In an interview with CNN this Saturday (8), infectologist and pediatrician Marco Aurélio Sáfadi explained that it is necessary to wait for the arrival of this vaccine to start vaccinating children from 5 to 11 years old because there are differences.
“This vaccine is different from what was and is being used in adults and adolescents. It has a concentration of approximately one third of that which is administered in other age groups”, he explained.
Regarding children who have comorbidities, the specialist informed that an assessment is being carried out with Brazilian data to determine which are the most vulnerable groups among children and adolescents.
“There are data from other countries that have already identified that, in children and adolescents, we also have some groups that are more fragile to complications. In general, it is very similar to adults, but there are peculiarities”, said the president of the Scientific Department of Infectious Diseases at the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP).
For example, the pediatrician explains that, in children up to two years old, prematurity, changes in the airways, chronic lung diseases and heart disease are factors of concern.
In adolescents, the risks are more similar to adults, such as diabetes, obesity, severe asthma and other lung diseases, for example.
“The next stock is not enough to cover all the children right away. We will have to prioritize the vaccine. There is no doubt that these groups should be priorities”, said Sáfadi.
Reference: CNN Brasil
