University of São Paulo: Delay in vaccinating children and adolescents, for political reasons, is not based on science
Vaccination of children and adolescents is a health need to control the pandemic and to give families security in the prevention of covid-19. Without it, severe cases can occur even in childhood. Despite this, there have been political movements and actions against vaccination for this age group in Brazil.
Professor Lorena Barberia, from the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences at USP , in an interview with Jornal da USP in Ar 1st Edition , explained that, before a vaccine is approved, there is a very serious instance, with meetings, evaluations, documentation that is evaluated to discuss it with teams of experts, in addition to the pronouncement, which is public.
Even after that, the Ministry of Health convened a public hearing, with experts who were not responsible for the clinical trials or wrote articles on the subject, just to use their “authority” in the area and to be against the issue of vaccination. “There was a lot of dissemination, in this public space, of false information about the effects of vaccines. This creates panic in society. It’s totally understandable”, says Lorena.
Internment of young people is worrying
The teacher highlights that the rate of children and adolescents hospitalized for covid-19 in the world is high. “We have data showing that we have hospitalizations and deaths worldwide. In the case of Brazil, there is very worrying evidence: a high death rate in this age group.” She goes on to explain that, therefore, we should be reacting to want to protect these young people and vaccinate them.
“There was a lot of dissemination, in this public space, of false information about the effects of vaccines. This creates panic in society. It’s totally understandable”
And vaccination has not advanced enough for adolescents over 12 years of age, with only 25% vaccinated. “We have a weakness in protocols, in schools, in the use of masks and distancing. We have a series of problems and we are already putting children in the environment where there is a chance of being exposed to the virus”, says Lorena.
Another point reinforced by the professor is that the delay in vaccination is due to political issues, “which are not based on evidence and scientific investigation”. At this point, what needs to be done is to dialogue with the community of parents, with schools, to seek to clarify doubts, understand the challenges of the situation and the importance of vaccination.
The teacher wrote an article on this issue of the unjustified and politicized struggle against vaccination of children and adolescents in Brazil.