Brazil starts vaccinating children against COVID-19

The first child to receive Pfizer‘s pediatric vaccine against COVID-19 in Brazil was the 8-year-old indigenous Davi Seremramiwe from the Xavante ethnic group.

The governor of the State of São Paulo, João Doria (PSDB), who has made vaccination against COVID-19 his main political banner in his pre-candidate for the presidency in this year’s election, followed the vaccination of the first children, talking to the mothers and with the children themselves while they were vaccinated.

The beginning of children’s vaccination takes place almost a year after the first person received a vaccine against COVID-19 in Brazil, and nearly a month after the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old.

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After the agency’s approval, the Ministry of Health decided to carry out a public comment on the vaccination of children against COVID, which is unusual because it is legally up to Anvisa to certify the effectiveness and safety of immunizers. Minister Marcelo Queiroga even said that there was no urgency to vaccinate children.

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President Jair Bolsonaro is against the vaccination of children against COVID and, without any scientific basis, casts doubt on the vaccine’s safety. He stated that immunization of children is not justified, although more than 300 children in this age group have died from COVID-19 in Brazil.

The start of vaccination for children also comes at a time when the Ômicron variant of the coronavirus, which is much more transmissible than other strains, is causing a surge in the number of Covid cases, which has led experts to warn about the possibility of a collapse of health systems in Brazil.