The first doses of pediatric vaccines from Pfizer arrived at the State Department of Health of Paraíba on Friday (14). The 23,600 vaccines will be sent to the 223 municipalities in Paraíba for the immunization of children aged 5 to 11 years.
In December and January, children were vaccinated with expired Pfizer immunizations and with the formulation for use in adults in the municipality of Lucena, Paraíba.
This week, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) will hear the nursing technician accused of incorrectly administering vaccines to children in a Basic Health Unit (BHU) in the city, before the arrival of pediatric doses in Brazil.
“What is being investigated by the Federal Public Ministry is whether it was an error or a deliberate attitude of the nursing assistant, who has already been removed”, said the state secretary of Health of Paraíba, Geraldo Medeiros, in an interview with CNN this Sunday (16).
“Starting tomorrow, all those who participated and are responsible, such as the municipal secretary of health, the municipal surveillance and the children’s families, as well as the applicator and the mayor will be heard by the Federal Public Ministry in order to define exactly if there was malice in regarding the application of these vaccines in children”, he added.
According to the secretary, at least 60 children were identified who received the vaccines improperly in the city of Lucena.
“The children are being monitored by the state health department. Fortunately, they only had mild adverse events that are common to the vaccine, such as fever and pain at the injection site. But we are monitoring these children due to this inappropriate attitude of the applicator”, he said.
Reference: CNN Brasil
