Vaccination of children in SP should only be completed in March, says government Doria

Vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 years against Covid-19 in the state of São Paulo should extend until March. The projection was made this Friday (13) by the João Doria government (PSDB), at a press conference, shortly after the start of immunization of children with comorbidities, disabilities, indigenous people and quilombolas.

This first group should receive the first dose by February 10, according to state government estimates.

The vaccination campaign for children in the state began in a ceremony in the auditorium of Hospital das Clínicas, in the central region of São Paulo.

Indigenous boy Davi Seremramiwe Xavante, 8 years old, was the first child vaccinated against Covid-19 in Brazil.

Born to a Xavante tribe in the state of Mato Grosso, Davi has a health condition that affects his legs and forces him to walk with the help of an orthosis. For nine months, he and his father, chief Jurandir Siridiwe, made periodic trips to the capital of São Paulo so that Davi could be treated at the Instituto da Criança at Hospital das Clínicas.

Since the beginning of last year, Davi has been living with a tutor in the city of Piracicaba, in the region of Campinas. She accompanies him in the routine consultations that the boy has at the HC with doctors in the areas of rehabilitation and neurology.

Subsequently, children with disabilities, Down syndrome and a quilombola were vaccinated.

According to the Doria government, São Paulo received 234,000 doses of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine, but there are 850,000 children who can be immunized in this first group in the state.

According to Regiane de Paula, coordinator of the State Immunization Program, the vaccination of children may be extended until March because of the expected speed of distribution by the Ministry of Health.

According to the schedule presented, vaccination by age in the second week of February should be for children aged 11, 10 and 9 years (partial). The second dose will be given eight weeks later.

Doria said he expects the release by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) next week for the use of Coronavac in children, from 3 years old. “We have 15 million doses at the Butantan Institute ready to be used,” said Doria.

In case that happens, the forecast of the São Paulo government is that the vaccination of the children is done in up to three weeks.

As with the vaccination of adults, Doria – who is a pre-candidate for the presidency by the PSDB – is again ahead of the federal government in the vaccination launch. The toucan rivals President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who has been against the immunization of children and has even questioned Anvisa’s interests in approving the pediatric vaccine.

In January 2021, the São Paulo government immunized the nurse Monica Calazans hours after Anvisa released the use of Coronavac for immunization against Covid in the country.

Thus, vaccination in São Paulo begins the day after the arrival of the first batch of vaccines for children against Covid, in the early hours of this Thursday (13). The load with 1.2 million doses of Pfizer immunizers arrived at Viracopos airport, in Campinas (SP), was transferred to Guarulhos, in Greater São Paulo, and began to be distributed to the states.

The Ministry of Health was expected to receive 20 million doses of Pfizer by March this year. However, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, said on social media that the amount for this period will be 30 million doses.

In the state of São Paulo, pre-registration for vaccination of children can now be done on the Vacina Já website. It is estimated that 4.3 million children will begin to be vaccinated as soon as the doses are released by the Ministry of Health.

Pre-registration is optional and does not work as an appointment, but speeds up service at immunization sites. In 24 hours, according to the government, more than 230,000 children were registered.