Lençóis Paulista suspends childhood vaccination after father reports alleged reaction

The information that a child had changes in heartbeat after taking the vaccine against Covid-19 led the City Hall of Lençóis Paulista, in the interior of São Paulo, to suspend this Wednesday (19) the campaign to immunize children.

The decision was made by Mayor Anderson Prado (DEM) after circulating a report that a child with asthma had shown changes in heart rate and, according to the parents, passed out about 12 hours after the vaccine was administered.

The child was taken to a private clinic and transferred to a hospital in Botucatu, where he remains under observation. The City Hall of Lençóis Paulista reported that, according to the family, the child is stable and conscious.

In a note posted on social media, the city government also stated that it did not have access to the child’s chart. Even so, he chose to suspend childhood vaccination for seven days.

The mayor informed, however, that parents or guardians who spontaneously seek the network will be able to vaccinate their children.

The childhood vaccination campaign began on Tuesday (18) and 46 children had already been vaccinated in the city. According to the city hall, they will be monitored by health technicians, who will certify whether or not there was any new unwanted reaction.

With about 70,000 inhabitants, the city has 6,430 children aged between 5 and 11 years old.

The mayor explained that the decision to suspend the vaccination campaign for children was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the municipality’s Covid-19 Committee, held this Wednesday afternoon.

“The Committee makes it clear that there is no doubt about the importance of childhood vaccination. But, given what happened, this period will be given for the daily follow-up and monitoring of the 46 children from Lençóis vaccinated so far”, said the mayor in a note.

He stated that the deadline is necessary for further investigation into the case of sending reports to federal and state control bodies: “The Health Department is requesting authorization to access the medical records, since the service took place in the private network”, he adds. .

Before the committee meeting, the city had already published a note on the official social media reporting the case.

In the note, the city government states that it did not have access to the medical records and, therefore, was not sure whether the child’s clinical condition would be an effect of the vaccine application.

The mayor’s decision provoked reactions on social media. But it also gained the support of part of the population, which informed that they would no longer vaccinate their children.

The mayor defended the disclosure of the case in the city hall’s networks: “There is nothing alarmist about this measure. The decision to make the case public was totally correct and a way of showing transparency of the measures adopted by the Administration”, said the mayor.

Mayor Anderson Prado published this Tuesday (19) on his social media a video in which he is congratulated by federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PSL-SP) for having obtained from the Ministry of Health a batch of 10,000 tests for Covid-19. to town.

This week, Zambelli sent a letter to the ministry and to Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), in which he asks for the suspension of childhood vaccination “until the safety reassessment”.

The mayor said he had no relationship with Zambelli. He said that he has always been in favor of the vaccine and that he is also in favor of childhood vaccination. But he defended being prudent to suspend vaccination and evaluate the effects on children already immunized.

The Secretary of State for Health said that all vaccines approved by Anvisa are safe and effective, directly impacting the reduction of serious cases and hospitalizations for Covid-19.

The state ministry also informed that the Epidemiological Surveillance Center is monitoring and will analyze the case of Lençóis Paulista. It also reported that all cases of adverse events are examined by a committee of experts before any confirmation.

“It is, therefore, hasty and irresponsible to say that the case of the municipality is associated with vaccination. Most of the time, the cases of post-vaccination adverse events are coincident, without any causal relationship with the immunizer”, says the secretary.