Carla Vizzotti confirmed that Anmat has already approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years

The Minister of Health of the Nation, Carla Vizzotti, referred this morning to the approval of the pediatric vaccine from Pfizer for use in the country and stated that doses were approved last week by the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) and that in the next few days they expect to have news about its implementation.

“Pfizer was approved in Argentina for 5 and 11 years depending on when the company presented the extension of the data, which was last week”, said the official in dialogue with LN+ and after that he described that they had to deliver documents, test results and other papers so that Anmat could evaluate them after that. After that, he stated:Surely these days we have news to share from Pfizer”.

Likewise, Vizzotti explained that from the portfolio he directs they also work with the Moderna’s vaccine because they seek “the largest number of platforms, as we always did.” “What we cannot do is wait for documents, since October we already have a significant number of protected children,” he said regarding Pfizer’s delay in delivering the requested paperwork and about the inoculation of minors which was carried out with Sinopharm, a vaccine that was initially questioned by the Argentine Society of Pediatrics (SAP), something that worried many parents who chose not to vaccinate their children.

“We believe that the best decision is to protect children and adolescents as soon as possible. That is why we recommend the vaccine, ”said the official.

Yesterday, Minister Vizzotti and her Education counterpart, Jaime Perczyk, held a meeting with representatives of the Pan American Health Organization (OPS), of UNICEF, of the SAP and of the Ombudsman for children and adolescentss “in order to reach consensus around the readjustment of the protocol prior to the start of the school year and the strategies to strengthen vaccination,” it was officially reported.

On the possibility of coronavirus vaccination becoming mandatory, after a deputy from the ruling party presented a project, the minister said that the National Immunization Commission would be the entity that could recommend the inoculation, but that “the epidemiological situation is not yet stable to define which population, which vaccine and each how many”.

“We have three times more cases than at the peak of the second wave, but 10 times fewer deaths,” the minister explained about the current national epidemiological situation and highlighted the importance of vaccines: “Lethality is much lower thanks to them.” Vizzotti said that “it would seem” that the province of Córdoba “It is passing the peak” of infections. “For the first time, we are seeing a slowdown in cases compared to the previous week”added the official. “It’s good news that we haven’t had any other escalations,” he said.

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