Fifteen Brazilian children received COVID-19 vaccines on Friday, marking the start of an effort that was delayed several weeks by the Brazilian government’s reluctance to endorse the immunization of children.
The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, known as Anvisa, on Dec. 16 last year issued approval for the administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children aged five to 11.
The decision incensed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has since complained about vaccinating children, saying that he would not let his 11-year-old daughter get shots and warning of possible side effects.
Photo: AP
A study released by US health authorities late last month determined that serious side effects of the Pfizer vaccine in five to 11 year olds are rare.
The results were based on approximately 8 million doses dispensed to children in that age group.
Rather than follow the regulators’ guidance, the Brazilian Ministry of Health published an online questionnaire asking if children should need a doctor’s prescription to get the shot.
Photo: AP
Some of the president’s supporters, like him leery of vaccines, campaigned on social media for people to vote against vaccinating children.
Despite that, a majority of the survey’s almost 100,000 participants opposed the need for prescriptions and the health ministry last week announced that it would allow children to be vaccinated.
An eight-year-old from the Xavante indigenous community was the first to get a shot at the ceremony in Sao Paulo’s Hospital das Clinicas, one day after 1.2 million doses designated for children arrived at an airport in the state.
The boy has been undergoing treatment in Sao Paulo for a genetic disease that requires him to wear braces on his legs. His father, Jurandir Siridiwe, a tribal leader, watched his son’s immunization broadcast via the Internet.
“If we had started immediately after Anvisa approved in December the Pfizer vaccine for kids of this age, today all the children in Brazil would have been vaccinated with at least one dose,” Sao Paolo Governor Joao Doria told the event.
The health ministry recommended an eight-week interval between children’s first and second doses of the Pfizer shot, rather than the three weeks recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Sao Paulo state, that means children who are scheduled to return to in-person classes at public schools on Feb. 2 would do so before receiving a second dose.
While children are much less likely than adults to develop severe symptoms or die from COVID-19, advocates say that vaccinating them can minimize the virus’ spread in their families and society as a whole.
Brazil has begun experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases and Brazilian Minister of Health Marcelo Queiroga on Thursday said that the highly transmissible Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has become the dominant strain in the country.
By Friday afternoon, only six of Brazil’s 27 states had received vaccines for children.
The health ministry’s press office cited logistical hiccups and told reporters that the doses would be delivered to the remaining states over the weekend.
Most of them would begin vaccinating children on tomorrow.
Brazil has about 20 million children aged 5 to 11, the ministry said.
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