VOCES emphasizes pediatric vaccination for the start of classes

With his face painted as the Spider-Man character, 5-year-old Salvador Torres Reyes looked calm as nurse Ana Tavera prepared yesterday to administer the vaccine against the virus. COVID-19. As soon as he saw the needle, the minor, sitting on the lap of his mother, Janelle Reyes, screamed and cried. But, within seconds of the prick, the boy calmed down.

“This is your first dose. She had waited because in May she got COVID, although her symptoms were quite mild. Now, they require it at school (to have this vaccine) and we came to fulfill the mission,” Reyes said.

Yesterday, a health fair was held at the facilities that VOICES Vaccination Coalition has in Plaza las Américas to vaccinate against COVID-19. In an effort together with the Pediatric Hospital Foundation, pediatric residents, nursing staff and other health professionals provided guidance on visual and oral health, physical therapy, nutrition and other medical services.

Ana Mathews was another of the mothers who responded to the organization’s call to vaccinate the pediatric population against this virus. She said that her 7-year-old son had been vaccinated, but her youngest daughter, 5, was missing.

“He gave us COVID in April, for Easter. She brought it (the virus) home and spread it to her mom, dad, her brother, the teacher, my parents… an outbreak. And she hit him hard, with a fever, chills, a cough, and she couldn’t breathe right,” Mathews recounted.

“I did not know that the vaccine for his age had already arrived. I found out through a chat from her school,” said Gretchen Arroyo, who took her 4-year-old son, Ian Jaime Arroyo, to receive his first dose, as well as her daughter, Rachel Maldonado Arroyo, 10, to her third dose.

Nurse Tavera recognized that the movement of people in the VOCES facilities in Plaza was more active than it has been in months.

“It is more than normal for the ‘back to school’ (back to classes)”. Most of the children come quietly (to be vaccinated), but if they see one crying, they get infected and cry,” she said.

Lilliam Rodríguez, director of VOCES, reported that as of today the organization will start an educational campaign under the motto “For the school with my green paper in hand”. This will promote the delivery, free of charge, of the “green sheet” or vaccination certificate required for returning to school to minors who are vaccinated against COVID. Students must have their vaccinations up to date in order to receive the “green sheet,” Rodríguez said.

The delivery of the document will take place from August 8 to 13 at the centers that VOCES has in several shopping centers, including Plaza del Norte (Hatillo), Mayaguez Mall, Las Catalinas Mall (Caguas), Cantón Mall (Bayamón) and Plaza.

“Still in the population of 5 to 11 years many are missing because of the reinforcement”, he said.

According to Health data, until yesterday there were 4,169 girls and boys between the ages of 4 and 11 with up-to-date vaccinations. Rodríguez warned that having the vaccines up to date no longer includes only having the primary series or the first two doses, but also having the booster dose or doses, as approved for their age.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the COVID-19 vaccine from 6 months and the booster from 5 years and older.

Rebeca Quiñones, executive director of the Pediatric Hospital Foundation, warned that yesterday’s health fair would help emphasize the importance of minors being evaluated by their doctors to identify or follow up on other conditions they present.

“We see a lot of children arriving at the hospital with situations that can be avoided if they go to the pediatrician, because, apart from COVID, other conditions are exacerbated,” he said.

Diabetes, emotional problems, suicide attempts, nutrition and kidney problems are some of the situations they have been seeing in the pediatric population seeking hospital services, he indicated.

“We’ve seen a lot of developmental deficits that may not have been identified before because kids weren’t seeing their pediatricians as much or going to school,” said Dr. Ana Garcia, director of the pediatrics residency program at Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Melba Esquilín, president of the Society of Pediatric Dentists of Puerto Rico, recalled that an oral evaluation is required for students from kindergarten to twelfth in even grades.

“The importance of this evaluation is that it prevents the child from having (dental) emergency situations during the school year that limit his or her going to school,” he said.

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