Chile has authorized the use of the Sinovac vaccine in children from 6 years of age

Chilean health authorities on Monday authorized the use of the Sinovac vaccine for minors from 6 years old. The decision was made after reviewing the background to phase I and II clinical trials in China.

The decision was approved after the National Supply Center (Cenabast) seized the request on Thursday August 26 to the Institute of Public Health (ISP) to resolve this issue.

Five experts recommended emergency PSI vaccination for children over 6 years old. While two asked for it to be from the age of 12 and one member asked to have more experience to make a decision.

“For all that, The Institute of Public Health to issue a resolution approving the extension of the age of the vaccine from 6 years (…) So the Coronavac vaccine has been approved since the age of 6, ”said ISP director Heriberto García.

The decision of the experts and the FAI was based in part analysis of the phase I and II study of 600 children in China. This decision aims to “offer greater protection to our children” because “Children voluntarily increase the number of infected who are those who are not vaccinated.”

“One way or another, the data shows that children voluntarily increase the number of infected who are those who are not vaccinated. In this age group there are transplanted children, who need the vaccine because they are immunocompromised due to the use of corticosteroids and other drugs for their transplantation, ”García said.

Regarding the need to extend the vaccine to more children, García said that “It is very necessary to widen this age group” in particular because of the return to class of the student population. “There are also some pretty powerful public health reasons and they were presented today in the assessment, that have to do with the calm, safe and confident return to school and protect teachers because children are transmitters of the virus ”.

In the first place, it was requested that this emergency vaccination It will be extended until the age of 3. However, the lack of history in the application of the drug in children between 3 and 5 years triggered the decision to start vaccinating at the age of 6.

Despite this approval Chile’s Ministry of Health (Minsal) final resolution still missing, which could happen in the next few hours.

Minsal and the vaccination of minors

Under-Secretary for Health Paula Daza has announced that she hopes to start vaccination of minors between the ages of 6 and 12 this September and that it will be carried out directly in schools.

The decision to extend the age range for immunizing children and adolescents is no surprise. In August, the Ministry of Health (Minsal) of Chile had already announced that vaccination in children aged 3 to 11 would become a reality between “September or October”.

On August 6, Minister of Health Enrique Paris said that “We calculate that, if the studies progress quickly or if we have good results quicklyIt could be in September or October of this year to start with children between 3 and 11 years old ”.

The above has been ensured because a survey in Brazil gave positive results with the Coronavac vaccine for minors. “We know that the Butantan study in Brazil has already presented results, as for laboratories, there are three (which conduct studies in children): Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac,” said Paris in early August.

Approval of the use of Coronavac vaccine for inoculation of children from 12 years of age This is a breakthrough because only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is used for these people in Chile. This is why Dr Gema Pérez emphasized the safety of the Coronavac vaccine in this new stage of vaccination.

“(Coronavac is) a fairly safe and effective vaccine, which comes closest to commonly used vaccines, since it is an inactivated virus and allows the immune system to easily recognize it and establish an immune response to this virus, ”said Pérez.

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