The director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIm), Renato Kfouri, reinforced in an interview with CNN, this Sunday (28), the need for vaccination against the coronavirus.
For Kfouri, the discrediting of Covid-19 vaccines by some groups around the world is unfounded.
“The experiment [de vacinas] is done within clinical studies. All medications we use today have gone through the same process. Once this product is authorized, it is used on a large scale, we already have 7.5 billion doses applied on the planet, and the side effects that we have observed are of a rarity that cannot be compared with the benefits”, he said.
Kfouri highlighted that vaccines save lives. “Here in Brazil, [as vacinas, de todos os tipos] were responsible for the increase in life expectancy by more than 30 years in the last decades. Denying the benefit of vaccination is a setback and we need to advance in the vaccination of children”, he said.
So far, Brazil only has licensed vaccines for groups over 12 years old. By the end of this month, Pfizer must submit to Anvisa the records of research in children aged 5 to 11 years.
The director of SBIm explained the reason for the differentiated vaccination for children under 12 years old. “Children, because they have a younger and more robust immune system, respond more vigorously to vaccines, and usually pediatric formulations are less concentrated,” he said.
Kfouri also defended the immunization of this group “When we talk about 0.4% of deaths in children under 20 [por Covid-19], there are 2,400 children and adolescents who have died, it is more than all the diseases on the children’s disease calendar. There are epidemiological, social and ethical justifications for including children in the vaccination group”, he stated.
The infectologist said, however, that the vaccination of children is still going through great discussions about priorities.
“Two important aspects are the safety of vaccines, which has been demonstrated, and the inequities in the distribution of vaccines across the planet. The World Health Organization (WHO) has made efforts, but they have not been enough”.
See vaccination against Covid-19 in Brazil and worldwide
Reference: CNN Brasil
