The vaccination of children between 5 and 11 years old against Covid-19 in Brazil started this weekend in nine capitals: Florianópolis, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Salvador, São Luís, Fortaleza, Aracaju, Vitória and Recife. On Sunday (16), it was the turn of Brasília and João Pessoa to start the immunization of the group.
This Monday (17), 10 capitals start vaccination and two others open the registration.
In an interview with CNN, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, listed the conditions for the federal government to start using Coronavac in children.
The minister said that, if the vaccine is approved by the technical team of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) and by the analysis of the approval made internally by the Ministry, the vaccine against Covid-19 from the Butantan Institute may be made available to the Brazilian population.
He argues that although vaccines using Coronavac’s technology have been approved in other countries, they have not received regulatory approval in Brazil for this age group.
“Anvisa is part of a list of agencies that have a level of demand for more security in their analyses,” he said. He points out that agencies, such as the European Medicines (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), only approved the Pfizer immunizer for childhood vaccination.
“We always want to have more supplies, more vaccines, more medicines available. But it is necessary to observe the regulatory aspects”, he pointed out.
Queiroga also declared that a new public hearing would not be necessary to discuss childhood vaccination. However, he points out that “the issue is not to accelerate” the process of immunization of children.
“The doses have to be applied at the right time, observing the recommendations of the Ministry of Health and Anvisa so that vaccination errors do not happen as here in my state of Paraíba”, he said.
The minister also highlighted that vaccines should not be a conditioning factor for the return to classes scheduled for the end of the month.
He argues that vaccination, according to Ministry of Health guidelines, is not mandatory. “It is unreasonable to associate vaccination with classes. Classes must happen, security exists, the measures are the same. For parents who want to vaccinate their children, vaccines will be available,” he said.
Reference: CNN Brasil
