MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Top Argentine health official sees covid-19 vaccination of children “imminent”

In the meantime, Gollan wants everybody around a child with comorbidities to get vaccinated

The Minister of Health of the Argentine province of Buenos Aires Sunday said other anticovid-19 vaccines were understudy to be used on children aged 3 to 18 in addition to the Pfizer drug.

Doctor Daniel Gollan explained in a radio interview that the clearance of additional immunizers for pediatric use was “imminent” and that “Sinopharm is close to obtaining authorization to be applied in minors between 3 and 18 years old.“

He also admitted the same will happen with the Moderna vaccine and insisted that, pending the authorization, children with comorbidities should be ”vaccinated throughout the environment“. That means that everybody living around such a patient should seek vaccination.

Gollan also pointed out that children with comorbidities between the ages of 3 and 18 will be the ”priority“ as soon as they can begin to be vaccinated.

The minister also explained that the Delta variant was “more contagious,” because it is “more capable of entering the cell faster.”

Gollan also maintained that all the vaccines in use “are safe.” He also downplayed the risks of applying doses from different laboratories, because the result often increases immunization.

He admitted, however, that although efficacy may vary from one brand to another, all vaccines were successful ”in avoiding serious cases“, such as the Delta variant. He recalled that in the United Kingdom ”there are 30 thousand cases a day“ now, but ”the number of deaths was 470 per day” before immunizers were widely used.

Gollan also forecast that “in the spring we would have a very high level of immunization.” He added that “if by mid-September we can have 80 per cent of the population vaccinated with two doses, the impact of the pandemic on mortality drops to minimal levels.”

But he regretted the large gatherings to celebrate Argentine's winning the Copa América football tournament. “The truth is that those are not the images that we like from a health point of view. I know it is difficult, but I would prefer to avoid this.”