Vaccination against Covid-19 applies to children from 6 months to 4 years
This Tuesday (27), The Ministry of Health has recommended to expand the use of the vaccine against Covid-19 for the vaccination of children from 6 months to 4 years.🇧🇷 Previously this age group could only receive the immunizer known as “pfizer baby” if they had some type of co-morbidity as measured by the government. However, the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) had already published a letter endorsing the recommendation of childhood vaccination regardless of the presence of comorbidities.
How will the scheme work?
Oh The regimen has three doses, with an interval of four weeks between the first two doses and eight weeks between the second and third doses.🇧🇷 It will happen gradually, from small to large.
Important information for this extension: 50% of children and adolescents who died and 71.8% of those who developed severe symptoms had no comorbidities.🇧🇷 This analysis took place between February 2020 and January 2021, thanks to the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (SIVEP-Gripe).
Infection rates are higher in children under 5 years of age
Technical Note No. 399 of 2022, published by the Ministry of Health, through the General Coordination of the National Immunization Program (CGPNI), explains that the incidence of infection is higher for the under-five population than for the elderly. In addition Mortality of children under one year of age is eight times higher than that of 15-19-year-olds.🇧🇷
Statement of the Ministry of Health
“Given that vaccinating children 6 months to 4 years of age against COVID-19 can prevent Sars-CoV-2 infections, hospitalizations, deaths, in addition to post-Covid complications. […] The main coordination of the immunization program recommends that all children be vaccinated [nesta faixa etária] with Pfizer/BioNTech immunizer,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
It should be remembered that the National Agency for Health Control (Anvisa) had already approved the expansion of the Pfizer vaccine for children from 6 months to 4 years old, which made the decision easier. However, its assessment has been cautious since early August.
