The National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) and the National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries (Conasems) sent contributions to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to assist the vaccination process against Covid-19, in the group of children between five and 11 years.
The bodies emphasize the importance of care when applying the vaccine and asked that the distribution be balanced in all municipalities in the country.
Anvisa authorized the immunizer in December 2021 after a careful technical analysis of data and clinical studies conducted by the Pfizer laboratory.
The agency’s technical team reported that evaluated information indicates that the vaccine is safe and effective for children, as requested by Pfizer and authorized by Anvisa.
In a note, Anvisa informs that it has received the recommendations of Conass and Conasems and that it understands that there may be inequalities that require adjustments to certain recommendations, with the objective of advancing in the immunization of this public, maintaining all the necessary care for the inclusion of this age group in the operationalization. of vaccination in Brazil.
The agency also says that the recommendations are subject to adjustments by states and municipalities.
Ministry of Health distributes the doses
The distribution of doses of the vaccine, about 1.2 million, which arrived this Thursday (13) in the country, will be made by the Ministry of Health – but Anvisa guides.
The target population of the national childhood vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is prioritized according to the criteria of exposure to the infection and greater risks for aggravation and death from the disease.
The scaling of these population groups for vaccination will be based on the availability of vaccine doses.
Anvisa clarifies that recommendations serve to support the National Immunization Program (PNI) in the use of the vaccine in children. In addition to highlighting that such considerations are not mandatory and were issued to provide additional care for the beginning of immunization of children in Brazil.
Anvisa care recommendations
Anvisa informs that the guidelines aim to ensure efforts are made to avoid errors in the administration of vaccines, being an efficient way to avoid most adverse events. The vaccine for children has a different dosage and composition than that used for those over 12 years of age.
The agency reported that the vaccine formula for children will be applied in two doses of 0.2 mL (equivalent to 10 micrograms), with at least 21 days between doses – the Ministry of Health said that the vaccination schedule for children is composed of two doses with an interval of eight weeks.
The Pfizer immunizer for children will have an orange bottle cap, to facilitate identification by vaccination teams and also by fathers, mothers and caregivers who will take children to be vaccinated.
In those over 12 years of age, the vaccine is administered in doses of 0.3 mL and has a purple cap.
Anvisa also informs that there are local peculiarities that need to be analyzed and taken into account in the implementation of the vaccination process with due safety, but without making the immunization of children unfeasible.
The agency reaffirms the objective of ensuring safe vaccination for all children in Brazil. Anvisa, Conass and Conasems will continue to discuss progress in the vaccine campaign and in the control of the Covid-19 pandemic
Reference: CNN Brasil
