After approval by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) of the use of the Coronavac vaccine against Covid-19 in children aged 3 to 5 years old in the country, the Ministry of Health holds a meeting to evaluate the data presented by the agency.
According to information obtained by the policy analyst at CNN BasÃlia Rodrigues, the meeting will be held by the portfolio with the Technical Advisory Chamber on Immunization of Covid-19 (CTAI) until next Monday (18).
In addition to the meeting, the Ministry of Health will also discuss with the Butantan Institute about the availability of vaccine doses.
Expanding the use of Coronavac
The directors of Anvisa unanimously voted for the expansion of the use of Coronavac in a public meeting held this Wednesday (13).
During the process, Anvisa requested additional data and information from the Butantan researchers. In addition, it sought available information on the use of the vaccine in children in Chile and in effectiveness studies carried out in Brazil with the vaccinated child and adolescent population.
Coronavac has been authorized for emergency use in the adult population in Brazil since January 17, 2021. On January 20, the agency authorized the use of the vaccine in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years.
On July 8, Anvisa received the request from Butantan for definitive registration of Coronavac. The analysis period is 60 days.
Considerations from Anvisa’s technical area
The general manager of Medicines and Biological Products at Anvisa Gustavo Mendes presented the results of the studies evaluated by the technical team for issuing the recommendation to the agency’s board.
Anvisa’s technical team concluded that all the available scientific evidence suggests that there are indications of benefits for the use of the vaccine in the pediatric population. Experts recommended scaling up the application of Coronavac to children aged 3 to 5 years.
The same dose of the immunizer applied to the general population, 0.5 ml, should be used, with the same schedule of two doses with an interval of 28 days. For the recommendation, the technical team considered the absence of drug treatments and vaccines approved for children in this age group.
(Posted by Lucas Rocha of CNN)
Source: CNN Brasil
