Bolsonaro says 20,000 children and adolescents received irregular vaccine, and states counter

President Jair Bolsonaro said that by the end of last year more than 20,000 children aged 0 to 11 had been vaccinated against Covid-19, which he called “something completely irregular”.

The statements, this Wednesday (19), are based on data passed on by the Ministry of Health to the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union).

The agency asked this Tuesday (18) the STF (Supreme Federal Court) to suspend immunization campaigns for minors in disagreement with the National Plan for the Operationalization of Vaccination against Covid-19 (PNO) and with Anvisa’s recommendations.

On the morning of this Wednesday, Minister Ricardo Lewandowski had asked the states and the Federal District to express their views on possible irregularities in the immunization of children and adolescents. The minister gave a period of 48 hours for responses.

The AGU had stated that states and municipalities reported that minors were immunized last year outside the permitted age range and with unauthorized vaccines for this public.

According to the AGU, “although the only immunizing agent provided for in the PNO for use in children under 18 years of age is the one produced by Comirnaty/Pfizer, the register indicates that, without any apparent criteria, thousands of doses of other immunizing agents were applied to adolescents and children in several Brazilian states”.

“It is especially impressive, at this point, the record regarding the administration of doses to children. By December 2021, around 2,400 children aged zero to four years would have been vaccinated, without any support in the PNO, in addition to more than 18,000 children from five to 11 years”, said the agency.

In a note, Conass (National Council of Health Secretaries) and Conasems (National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries) said that “in more than 300 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 already applied, it is possible that errors have occurred. such as those listed in the complaint”.

“It can either be typing errors, or errors in the information systems themselves, which requires caution and discernment to verify such situations”, said the entities.