Defender charges Ministry of Health on vaccination of children against Covid-19

The National Defender of Human Rights — linked to the Public Defender’s Office of the Union — and the Regional Defender of Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro sent a recommendation to the Ministry of Health last week, asking the ministry to establish a schedule for vaccinating children to from six months against the coronavirus.

The recommendation was sent to Minister Marcelo Queiroga last Friday (20) and asks that this schedule be presented within ten days. The portfolio is not obliged to respond to this recommendation, but the Public Defender’s Office can file a lawsuit to ensure that this request is fulfilled.

In the document, the signatories claim that the DPU has been trying, for about a month, to contact the ministry to discuss the matter, but has not been successful.

The representatives of the Public Defender’s Office who signed the document claim that this contact was attempted shortly after the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) had authorized the use of the vaccine produced by Pfizer for children from six months of age.

“Before the Agency’s authorization, the Public Defender’s Office requested the Ministry of Health, on September 29, 2022, for information on the expected start of vaccination for children from 6 months to 4 years of age, through Official Letter No. 5570300 /2022, which, however, has not been answered to date,” the DPU said.

In addition, a bulletin produced by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) was used by the signatories of the recommendation to say that children from zero to four years of age “are currently the group at greatest risk, considering the population up to 60 years of age” .

The sub-coordinator of the Coordination of Health and Collective Guardianship of the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Alessandra Nascimento, told CNN that, so far, the ministry has not found any initiative to incorporate this group into the vaccination plan against Covid-19.

Nascimento stressed the importance of the ministry establishing a timetable —or at least a technical response—on the immunization of children.

“The Ministry of Health has the role of coordinating this plan. It’s not just the agency [Anvisa] register the immunizing agent if the ministry does not coordinate and dispose of it”, said Nascimento.

“Today there is an authorization by the regulatory agency, the immunizing agent for this range, but we need the Ministry of Health to prepare a plan to carry out the immunization of this public. It can take into account comorbidities, age group, etc”, added the sub-coordinator of the Coordination of Health and Collective Guardianship of the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Alessandra Nascimento stressed that the Defender’s Office has other instruments to charge the Ministry of Health and the federal government if there is no response on this recommendation presented last week.

According to her, this request serves to prove that there was an attempt to solve this problem without going to court. “We are here, we are observing, we need to know if there is something from the Ministry of Health in this regard. Did not respond, or depending on the content of the response, there are legal instruments that we can use,” she said.

Anvisa approved, on September 16, the use of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in children aged between 6 months and 4 years.

With the approval, the immunizing agent can begin to be applied in the country for this age group. Anvisa reinforced, at the time, however, that it is up to the Ministry of Health to decide on the incorporation and establishment of the calendar for this group.

Anvisa clarifies that the immunizing agent for children between 6 months and 4 years old has a different dosage and composition from those used for previously approved age groups.

The vaccine produced by Pfizer is the only one authorized to be administered to children aged over six months.