The pediatrician and vice president of Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIm), Isabella Ballalai, was one of those invited to participate inthe public hearing held by the Ministry of Health to discuss vaccination against Covid-19 for children aged 5 to 11 years. In an interview with CNN this Tuesday (4), the doctor reinforced her position that childhood immunization is something essential at this time.
“Leaving children out of vaccination is unthinkable. Diseases that we fear so much and that continue to be important killed less than Covid-19 is killing children and adolescents in Brazil and in the world”, said the doctor.
The pediatrician commented that at the public hearing, held in Brasília, some doctors presented data “that do not exist” and tried to show “a confusion of relationships that science does not show”. Ballalai considered that on many occasions there was an “uncomfortable situation for everyone”.
Ballalai warned of the advance of the Ômicron variant, and stated that vaccination is essential to combat the Covid-19 strain. According to her, the natural immunity of those who have already been infected by the coronavirus is lower and does not protect against virus variants. “With the vaccine, we managed to have this control”, he considered.
The doctor stressed that “severe cases and hospitalizations by Ômicron, in the vast majority, are in unvaccinated people.”
Although it does not cause a large number of hospitalizations and serious cases, according to the vice president of SBIm, Ômicron is more transmissible and cases are increasing more and more. In children, the symptoms caused by the variant are the same, the most worrying being shortness of breath and tiredness.
According to the doctor, the vaccine proved to be safe and effective after going through several different phases of testing and having been licensed by regulatory agencies around the world.
The pediatrician also warned that, if the necessary measures are not taken, we should have a greater number of infections in children in the country with the return to school. According to Ballalai, precautions to avoid contamination must be maintained. “With Ômicron, the risk of transmission is very high, the use of masks and social distance is still very important”, he reinforced.
The vice president of SBIm said that she is against relaxing school protocols in 2022, as, according to her, this would cause more and more students to stay away from schools because they were infected.
Reference: CNN Brasil
