Rio de Janeiro is considering purchasing Pfizer vaccines to immunize children aged five to 11 against Covid-19. The decision has not yet been taken, but there was a recommendation by the Special Committee to Combat Covid-19 (CEEC), of the Municipal Health Department, at a meeting held on Monday (20).
The meeting took place with the confirmation of the first case of the Ômicron variant in the city, after sequencing carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). The minutes of the meeting have already been released. In it, the collegiate manifested itself in favor of vaccination for children.
“Aligned with scientific societies and the best evidence so far available, the CEEC strongly recommends to the SMS that all measures be taken to implement the vaccination campaign in children, including evaluating the possible need for direct purchase from suppliers”, says an excerpt from the document.
Vaccination for this audience was approved by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) on Thursday (16), with the immunizing agent from Pfizer. The next day, Covid-19’s Technical Advisory Board on Immunization (CTAI Covid-19) also unanimously approved the measure.
Even with the approvals, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, has defended that the ministry should carry out a thorough analysis to decide whether or not to approve the immunization of this public. In recent statements, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) defended that the measure takes place with the signing of a commitment term by the parents or guardians.
The Municipal Health Secretary of Rio de Janeiro, Daniel Soranz, stated that he is in contact with the Ministry of Health and that he will wait for a concrete position from the Ministry to decide what to do. “I’m in contact with the ministry and they seem to be negotiating a new Pfizer contract. I will wait for a definition to know how to act from then on”, he stated.
The city has not yet calculated the number of doses that would be needed to immunize this public. The data is in the calculation stage by SMS. Sought to comment on the CEEC recommendation, the Ministry of Health has not yet taken a stand on the matter.
Reference: CNN Brasil
