The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, denied this Tuesday (8) that there is a delay in the delivery of pediatric doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 and charged states and municipalities to participate in the campaign.
“Until the 15th of February, all D1 [primeiras doses] will be made available. There is no shortage of vaccines. The heterogeneous rhythm shows that it is necessary to have a commitment of states and municipalities. It is not just the Ministry of Health – on the contrary, the Ministry has been working hard to bring vaccines to the Brazilian people,” he declared.
The minister also criticized questions asked by journalists when he arrived at the Ministry. Questions included a possible lack of parental trust in immunizers due to the longer-than-expected period between Anvisa’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine on December 16, 2021, and the availability of doses for children, which came on the 14th of January.
“There is no delay, the vaccines arrived in a timely manner. I challenge anyone to prove that Pfizer would deliver a dose of vaccine before the deadline it delivered,” said Queiroga.
“Vaccinating a child is not the same as vaccinating an adult. Sometimes you have to convince children to get vaccinated, you can’t take a child by force, go there and give a vaccine with the child screaming,” she said. “These issues of parents being afraid is an issue that has to do with parents”.
Queiroga also defended that there be a speed in the process of applying the second doses and the reinforcements planned for adults against Covid-19, and said that Brazil faces the peak of cases of the Ômicron variant like other countries. The minister again criticized the questions asked on the subject:
“To contain this pandemic, it is much more important to advance in vaccine doses than to stay in this ‘nhém nhém nhém’ of you here that we are delaying vaccine doses”, he told journalists. “We are doing very well in relation to our vaccination campaign. It is with work that we instruct these narratives”.
No “value judgment”
Asked about the explanations given by the Secretary of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Inputs (Sctie), Hélio Angotti Neto, in relation to a technical note in which he rejected the effectiveness of vaccines and defended hydroxychloroquine, Queiroga said he would manifest himself in the process. appropriate for the process.
At the end of January, the secretariat led by Angotti published a note stating that vaccines are not effective and that drugs such as hydroxychloroquine do. After criticism from the scientific community, the document was republished with the same content in the text, but without a table that suggested that hydroxychloroquine is effective and safe and vaccination is not.
“From a technical point of view, I will evaluate before an administrative procedure. Any anticipation of a value judgment on my part nullifies this issue. I have to follow the procedural rite”, said Queiroga. “I’m not judging the merit of the secretary’s motivation, I will face it at the right time”, added the minister.
*With information from Rodrigo Vasconcelos, from CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
