Conitec advises the Ministry of Health on the incorporation of technologies for the SUS. Experts point out unnecessary bureaucratization in a scenario of high covid-19
The National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System (conitec) initially recommended the incorporation into the sus of the vaccine pfizer versus COVID-19 for children aged 6 months to 5 years (Pfizer Baby), and the opinion is now open for public consultation this Tuesday 6. Country; Children aged 3 and 4 can benefit from the Coronavac immunization.
The commission has the task of advising the Ministry of Health on the integration of health technologies in the SUS, on the basis of cost and effectiveness. The public consultation following the initial opinion is a standard procedure for Conitec processes and is open for ten days.
After collecting the collaborations, the committee reviews the recommendation again and sends it to the Head of the Secretariat for Science and Technology and Strategic Inputs (SCTIE). The SCTIE manager decides whether to publish the report in the Official Journal of the Union or a public hearing is convened to discuss the matter – which sends the draft back to the Conitec plenary.
This is the first time a covid vaccine has had to be approved by the commission. This occurs, according to the Ministry of Health, due to the end of the Public Health Emergency of National Concern (ESPIN) – a measure, which includes, which had been criticized by scientists🇧🇷 “The widening of doses for children in this age group without comorbidities has started to be evaluated as a priority by Conitec”, he explained, in a note.
Doctors lament the delay in incorporating the vaccine in a scenario where more transmissible subvariants of the coronavirus are circulating and with greater immune escape, and also considering the burden of the disease in the range of up to five years, causing deaths and hospitalizations that could to be avoided with the vaccine. They argue that data presented by the pharmaceutical company to Anvisa – which approved the immunizer nearly three months ago – attests to the injection’s safety and effectiveness.
The vaccine for this age group is applied in three doses of 0.2 ml. The cap on the bottles is burgundy to avoid confusion with Pfizer’s other formulations for adults and children five years and older.
In a technical note published at the end of October, almost two months after the Anvisa resolution, the Ministry of Health recommended the application of the Pfizer vaccine to children aged between 6 months and 2 years (2 years, 11 months and 29 days) with comorbidities, “bearing in mind that the Coronavac vaccine is now available for children from 3 years of age”.
A recent survey by the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM), however, has demonstrated at least this one in five Brazilian cities report a lack of doses to vaccinate children aged 3 to 11 against covid-19🇧🇷 The majority (85.1%) say they do not have enough Coronavac stocks.
The arrival of the immunizer in the arms of the children has also been marred by delays. On December 3, the Ministry of Health announced that it had received 1 million doses of vaccine for newborns in the last week. However, the doses only began to be distributed the following week (the file informed that States he would receive the doses until 11🇧🇷 In the capital of São Paulo, the immunization only started on the 17th🇧🇷
The bureaucratic process implements the vaccine for children without comorbidities, the experts underline
Since the publication of the technical note, specialists and medical societies have criticized the failure to include children without comorbidities and, given the seriousness of the scenario, do not understand the need to involve Conitec in the decision. While the agency has been supportive, they point out that the procedure bureaucratizes the process and delays vaccination in a scenario of high cases driven by new subvariants of Ômicron, BQ.1 and BE.9, which appear to have higher transmission capacity and escape immunity.
“It is absurd that you submit a covid vaccine to a body that evaluates cost and effectiveness in the midst of a pandemic, which you must urgently vaccinate,” underlines the director of the Brazilian Vaccination Society (SBIM), Renato Kfouri .
“It is an irresponsible, irrelevant and negligent bureaucratization,” assesses Alexandre Naime Barbosa, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (SBI). “Currently, in this age group (from zero to five years), the leading cause of death in terms of infectious diseases is covid-19.”
Marco Aurélio Sáfadi, president of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics, adds that, among children, “the group of youngest children” was the one with the highest rates of hospitalization and death from disease. And, contrary to popular belief, many of these children had no comorbidities. “This story that only those with comorbidity risk serious outcomes is not correct, it is not true and it is not based on official data from the Ministry of Health”, he points out.
For the approval of Pfizer Baby, Anvisa considered pharmaceutical studies, which confirm safety and efficacy, as well as consultation and follow-up by a group of specialists from medical societies, such as SBIm, SBI and SBP.
The experts also reiterate the safety and efficacy profile of the other covid vaccines already available in health centers and warn that the vaccination rate of children is low. According to the media consortium, only 36.93% of children aged 3 to 11 are fully immunised.
“When the variants appear, they look for versions of the virus that give them greater power of transmission and immune escape. So, perhaps the vaccine does not prevent the individual from being infected, but it reduces the risk of becoming infected and greatly reduces the risk of serious outcomes “, warns Sáfadi.
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Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
