Cofepris secretly authorizes the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use for children 5 years and older; Despite this, the Ministry of Health (SSa) continues its refusal to vaccinate this age range.
The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) granted the emergency use authorization for children 5 years of age and older as of March 3; however, this was not publicly disclosed.
It was not until Cofepris informed Jesús Gallegos, second district judge of the state of Oaxaca, in an official letter related to the amparo trial 1380/2021, that “on March 3, 2022, he authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine -BioNTech against covid-19 for application in the group of people 5 years of age and older and that it must be applied with two doses of 10 micrograms each, with an interval of 21 days”, through official letter number 04505.
Cofepris continues without issuing any official letter or memorandum informing the population about this authorization for the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine.
“Cofepris did authorize the emergency use of the covid-19 vaccine for children 5 years of age and older, since the Commission itself notified the judge and it is impossible to legally respond with a lie. This Commission report arose from the protection that I processed for my 10-year-old son Jorge, since last December 2,” explained Alma Franco, lawyer and mother of Jorge.
There have been 3 times that Jorge has been summoned by the Health authorities, but without supplying the vaccine, arguing that due to instructions from Insabi it cannot be done, because the dose to be applied is unknown, when Cofepris responded in official letter number 04505 that “The Pfizer vaccine should be applied to children five years of age and older with two doses of 10 micrograms each, with an interval of 21 days.”
At the end of October, when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer & BioNTech vaccine, it documented that it was 10 micrograms for children 5 to 11 years of age, (two doses with a interval of 3 weeks between them).
Despite the fact that Cofepris legally notified that since March 3 it has already authorized the emergency use of the vaccine for this age group, the SSa continues with the refusal to comply with the orders of the judges to vaccinate boys and girls of 5 and 11 years, assuring that it is still “not approved by the federal government”, as happened just last Tuesday to Liliana Miranda, who despite taking her protection, her children José Emilio, 9 years old, and María, from 8, their application was denied.
“The health authorities told us that, since it was not authorized by Cofepris, they could not be vaccinated,” commented Liliana.
At the Irapuato Maternal and Child Hospital, where José Emilio was summoned on March 28, for a medical evaluation and to see if he was a candidate for the vaccine, Dr. Rosa Elena Aviña Gallega, with professional ID 4628193, simply filled out the form in the which issued: “patient not suitable for the application of vaccination by age group”.
Excelsior has documented several cases of boys and girls from 5 to 11 years old, who, despite having the order to vaccinate them by the judge, the health authorities refuse.
Among the arguments that the SSa continues to file in the appeals to the judges for not vaccinating boys and girls between 5 and 11 years of age, when emergency use is supposedly already authorized, are: the inability to apply the dose due to the lack of authorization regarding any vaccine for children under 12 years of age and that it lacks the scientific knowledge to determine the number of doses that must be given to the minor.
“It is unknown whether the pharmaceutical company has indicated how much of the biological should be supplied to the minor… The health, and possibly the life, of minors will be put at risk, since it is unknown exactly how many micrograms of the biological should be supplied to the minor,” is read by the defense of the Ssa in the complaint resource, delivered on March 10 to Luis Fernando Rodríguez, partner of the ABC Fiscal office, who represents his 7-year-old son.
“At this point, both Cofepris and the Ministry of Health in general have a lot to clarify. If really since the beginning of March the authorization for emergency use in children 5 and older was granted, why was it not disclosed? However, the fact that the authorization exists does not imply that there will be a recommendation from the Health sector, who have shown such little interest in vaccinating children that there is no renewed contract with Pfizer to acquire the biological”, he concluded. Xavier Tello, surgeon and public policy analyst.
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