Queiroga denies delay in vaccination against Covid in children

The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, denied this Friday (21) having a delay in vaccination against Covid-19 for children under five in Brazil. “There is no delay, absolutely not a second,” he said during an event at the Caixa branch on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo.

“For example, England does not apply these vaccines. Is it late there?”, he asked. In July, the Sheet showed that 13 countries already vaccinated the youngest and that the United States, which was already immunizing this age group, recorded 30.7% of all Brazilian deaths.

According to Observa Infância, a project linked to Fiocruz (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz), until the 13th of last month, only 2% of the 5.9 million children aged 3 and 4 in Brazil had received both doses of Coronavac, and the vaccination of babies over six months, approved by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) on September 16, has not yet started.

In Brazil, 1,508 children under the age of five died from Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. As a result, in two years, deaths from the disease represented more than triple those caused, in a decade, by 14 other diseases that may have mortality avoided by vaccination and other health actions.

Just this year, until October 8, a survey by the Ministry of Health indicated the death by Covid-19 of 270 one-year-old children and 187 between 1 and 5 years old. In the period, there were 12,563 hospitalizations for the disease in children up to five years old, an average of 44.8 per day, according to the coordinators of Observa Infância, Patricia Boccolini and Cristiano Boccolini.

“The latest information we have, with data from the Ministry of Health itself, which are very conservative, still show a situation of continuity of hospitalizations and deaths of children under five years old because of Covid-19”, says Patricia. “Children are a vulnerable audience and are uncovered because the government has not expedited vaccines for them.”

They recall that, recently, cases of death of children from meningitis have mobilized the population, but they do not see the same movement when it comes to the new coronavirus. “A death of a child in this age group because of Covid, having a vaccine, is absolutely unacceptable”, says Cristiano.

According to the minister, the release of immunization for the youngest by Anvisa is only an authorization and it would be necessary to comply with the assessment of Conitec (National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System).

“During the pandemic, we were experiencing an exception, a public health emergency of national importance, so this speeded up vaccine evaluations and made them available to states and municipalities. , he said.

“What did the ministry do? As a precautionary measure, it authorized the application of these vaccines to children with comorbidities. There is no delay, absolutely not a second. And the epidemiological situation today is completely different from a year ago, when I took over the Ministry and 4,000 people died a day,” said Queiroga.

In the case of the State of São Paulo, vaccination for this age is taking place due to a donation from the Butantan Institute. According to the State Department of Health, the institute imported enough API to produce 3.5 million doses of Coronavac. The federal government acquired 1 million of them.

Before, the state would receive 215 thousand doses,_, insufficient amount to vaccinate 1.1 million children in São Paulo, but Butantan donated what was not passed on to the federal government. According to the secretary, now the amount is enough to offer the two doses in the state.

As for the public after six months, for which Anvisa released the application of three doses of Pfizer’s immunizing agent on September 16, there was divergence in relation to those who can be vaccinated. The technical chamber that advises the Ministry of Health recommended that all children over six months of age could receive the vaccine, but the ministry determined that only children with comorbidities could be immunized.

At the event, Queiroga also stated that the “container” that indicates the death of a child every two days is wrong, said that only the press believes in this “narrative” and mentioned the Bible saying that “only the truth sets free”. Asked then if Covid-19 did not cause the death of children, he walked away without answering.

On the 14th, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) minimized the deaths of children because of Covid-19, saying that the data were inflated. “Young people are asymptomatic. Has anyone seen a child die of Covid? If so, it’s rare,” he said, without providing any evidence to support this version.