Over the last few months, the national immunization campaign has shown remarkable progress in Mexico. So far just over 65 percent of the adult population has already received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Therefore, it is possible to think that before the end of 2021 all adults have the complete scheme.
For its part, an issue that has caused controversy is whether it is convenient to start with inoculation in minors. At the beginning, the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, expressed his refusal to this decision. Its rationale is that it has not yet been proven to work without causing serious adverse effects in this sector of the population.
While just a couple of days ago he changed his mind. Now he points out that there is a shipment with a million doses ready to be applied but only to adolescents at high risk of suffering from complications from this new disease.
The only vaccine with permission to be applied to minors in Mexico
Now, it is worth remembering that until now there is only one vaccine against Covid-19 with permission to be applied in minors. It was on June 24 when the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech immunization in children and adolescents from 12 to 16 years of age. So far it is the only one that has the permission for this demographic group.
It was until the beginning of this 2021 when Pfizer carried out a test with minors. What was obtained was that only 18 were infected within a placebo group made up of 1,129 volunteers. While none was infected in the group of 1,131 that did receive the immunization. With this it is obtained that generates a perfect protection.
In fact, more and more countries are already applying this or Moderna vaccine to their children population. Within the list are the United Kingdom, Chile, Uruguay, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan and Brazil. For this reason, it is not ruled out that Mexico follows the same path.
Children who should not receive it
But like adults, immunization from Pfizer is not for everyone because it has some contraindications. From the Technical Application Guide approved by Cofepris and the Ministry of Health (SSa) there are five classes of children for whom this biological is not recommended.
- Children who have recently been infected with Covid-19 and have not yet recovered.
- Children with a history of severe allergy (anaphylactic reaction type).
- Children who have received a blood transfusion or application of blood products containing antibodies or treatment with plasma or monoclonal antibodies against Covid-19 in the three months prior to the day of vaccination.
- Children with known hypersensitivity to the components of the vaccine (especially polyethylene glycol or PEG).
- Children living with immunosuppression.
Whereas if any of the described scenarios is not met then there are no drawbacks. In any other situation, minors may be candidates to receive the Pfizer vaccine as determined by the authorities.