Covid vaccine for children polarizes families and friends

Engineer Maria Amália Lourenço has two children, aged 8 and 3. Helen Michelet, author of the blog Alphamães, is three, aged 6, 9 and 11. The mothers live in Alphaville, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, and they disagree on one issue: vaccination against Covid-19 for children.

While Lourenço was thrilled when his eldest son received the first dose, Michelet says he does not intend to vaccinate his own. “I won’t vaccinate them until I have to,” she says.

Vaccination for children is still not a consensus among some parents — in a recent Datafolha survey, 79% of Brazilians aged 16 and over said that children aged 5 to 11 should be vaccinated and, among those who declared themselves responsible for minors in this age group, 76% said they would take them to get the vaccine.

“For me, it was an accomplishment”, says Lourenço, who talked to his son about the importance of vaccination. “They ask me how long they will have to wear a mask or even when they won’t be able to party and we explain that for everything to go back to normal it is necessary to get vaccinated.”

“I want to go to Disney,'” says Lucca, 8, the oldest son who has already received his first dose of the immunizer. In addition to being able to travel, he hopes that vaccination will have another effect: “With everyone vaccinated, we will be able to take off the masks, which suffocate.”

In favor of the immunizer, the mother says she respects the decision of those who do not feel safe to vaccinate their children. “We understand that the choice is up to each family. But, thinking about the health of our children, we prefer to vaccinate.”

This is the case of Helen Michelet, who says that she does not trust the immunizer and that she was only vaccinated because she traveled with her husband and the final destination required the doses. She adds that if she has to vaccinate her children for travel, she prefers not to take them.

“I will never forgive myself if I take my son for the vaccine and he develops something,” says Michelet. “I don’t feel safe. I’m not an anti-vaccine, I’m an anti-stavac, especially since it’s very young.”

According to her, there is a lack of agreement on the subject: “My children’s pediatrician says to give the vaccine, but my plastic surgeon said it is not to give”.

Experts say, however, that the benefits of vaccinating children against Covid-19 outweigh the risks.

In early January, the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) published a note in which it reported that research carried out so far points to the efficacy and safety of the vaccine applied to the pediatric population.

The entity also indicated that immunizing agents are essential to prevent severe forms of the disease. Officially, since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has already recorded the death of more than 300 children aged 5 to 11 years from Covid-19.

A civil engineer and founder of the National Alliance, Giovani Falcone is in a situation similar to Michelet’s: he has three children and also does not intend to immunize them with the Covid-19 vaccine.

Among the reasons cited by Falcone is the fear that the children will have some adverse effect, such as myocarditis. According to him, the family takes ivermectin monthly to prevent themselves – the antiparasitic drug is not recommended by the World Health Organization and has no proven effectiveness in the treatment of coronavirus.

“When in doubt, it’s better not to risk it”, says the engineer about the Covid-19 vaccine, which he says he has not taken.

He lives with his family in São Caetano do Sul, in Greater São Paulo, and says he noticed that in his eldest daughter’s classroom, only two classmates were vaccinated.

Across the state, until last Friday (4), 1.7 million children aged 5 to 11 had already received their first dose, equivalent to 43% of the population in this age group.

“My daughter said: ‘she said it didn’t hurt, but I know it could be a problem, because there’s no scientific evidence.’

Studies have already proven the effectiveness and safety of vaccines against Covid in children, which have been used in several countries, including Canada, Chile, the United States and Israel.

In Brazil, immunizers in use were subjected to scrutiny by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) before being released.

Regarding liability in adverse cases, cases are investigated by health agencies. This is what happened in Lençóis Paulista, in the interior of the state, when a 10-year-old child had a cardiac arrest after being vaccinated.

The expert analysis revealed that the condition was not related to the immunizing agent, but rather to a rare congenital disease hitherto unknown to the family.

Renato Kfouri, pediatrician and director of Sbim (Brazilian Society of Immunizations), analyzes that there is greater hesitation and insecurity regarding the vaccination campaign for children than for adults.

For the doctor, however, the scenario should change as the immunization of the little ones progresses and it is important to welcome insecure parents.

“The same rigor we had to license the measles, meningitis and chickenpox vaccine, we had with the Covid-19 vaccine. When these vaccines were launched, none had 10 or 20 years of experience. They were launched to control important diseases at the time like Covid is today”, explains Kfouri.

Regarding adverse effects, such as myocarditis, he says the risk of developing something is rare. “In addition to being rare, it is benign. No one has died of myocarditis from the vaccine so far”, says the doctor.

Despite the fear shown by some parents, the pediatrician noticed in the office a great desire on the part of the children to be vaccinated. “They want a normal life, they want to participate in things and they can’t stand not having a birthday party anymore.”

The administrator Andrea Tenuta has two children, Giulia, 7, and Bruna, 3 — the family lives in the capital of São Paulo. The eldest recently took the immunizer. “I consulted my pediatrician to be sure because I’m not in the health area, but I never had any doubts,” she says.

Tenuta, however, was surprised by a fact inside the house. “My husband had doubts like someone who is not in the health area and starts reading a lot of nonsense. I didn’t think this would become an agenda between us, but I think it’s a reflection of such a polarized world we live in .”

The administrator says that when she hears people against the vaccine, she cannot cope well. “I have a couple of friends that the pediatrician didn’t recommend the vaccine for some reasons and I didn’t even want to hear it because it bothers me so much.”

Like her, Rafaela Duarte, from the city of São José, in Santa Catarina, was happy and relieved with her five-year-old son’s vaccine. But when she posted a picture of the boy getting the immunizer, she was criticized. “I was angry at the time,” she says, who has family members who are opposed to the Covid-19 vaccine. “They think it’s absurd that I vaccinated my son.”

Despite having immunized the little one, she admits that she felt afraid. “My pediatrician reassured me. Since Covid is a very dangerous disease, I’m more afraid of the disease than what the vaccine can do to children.”

“I took the vaccine yesterday,” said son Pedro, 5, to the report. When asked if his arm was sore, he said: “The vaccine hurt, I cried and it still hurts a little”. Despite the pain, the little one said he is happy with the immunizer. Why? “Why does Covid kill us, if it catches it”.