Organizations ask to vaccinate minors against Covid-19 in Mexico

EFE.- More than 1,000 minors have died in Mexico due to Covid-19, civil organizations denounced last Friday, which demanded that the health authorities vaccinate the population between 5 and 14 years of age.

In a statement signed by more than a dozen organizations, led by the Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico (Redim), the associations specified that until last January 30, the Ministry of Health itself has reported 295,233 infections, 12,977 hospitalizations, 971 intubations and 1,088 deaths in the age range from 0 to 17 years due to Covid-19.

An indigenous girl cries as a nurse vaccinated her in the community of Parque das Tribos, on May 21, 2020 in Manaus, Brazil. Medical teams from the Manaus Ministry of Health area perform flu vaccination and tests for coronavirus infections (COVID-19) in indigenous communities. Photo: © Andre Coelho/Getty Images.

–

Vaccination Vaccination boys and girls Vaccination in China — A nurse vaccinates a primary school girl against Covid-19 in Guiyang, Guizhou province, China on November 10, 2021. Photo: © Zhao Song / Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images.

–

The organizations denounced that despite the fact that two years have passed since the pandemic and increasingly contagious variants continue to be developed, in addition to the fact that the Mexican government applies booster doses to adults, It is not yet planned to purchase vaccines for the population between 5 and 14 years of age“nor are they included in the national vaccination strategy.”

This, despite having a policy of returning to face-to-face classes, in which, they specified, the Government “does not consider all the necessary provisions to safeguard the health of children and adolescents”, for which many families have chosen not to send their children to school.

Vaccination Child vaccine Indonesia Vaccinating against Covid-19 for Children Aged 6-11 — A nurse prepares to inject a dose of Sinovac vaccine to a child during the Covid-19 vaccination for children at a school in Bogor, Indonesia, on December 15, 2021. Indonesia begins the Covid-19 vaccination for children from 6 to 11 years old. Photo: © Andi M. Ridwan/INA Photo Agency/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

–

Vaunana Girl Vaccination Sao Paulo Leads Children Vaccination Against COVID-19 In Brazil — Valentina Moreira, 6, receives a dose from Pfizer as part of the first group of children under 12 to be part of the Covid-19 immunization campaign on January 14, 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The official vaccination will begin on Monday the 17th and will include children between 5 and 11 years old. Photo: Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images.

–

They assured that the possible development of persistent or long Covid-19 has been ignored and a message of false security is communicated that exposes minors “to an even greater risk of contagion.”

They recalled that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United States regulatory bodies (FDA/CDC). for the application of two doses (from 5 to 11 years of age) and three doses (from 12 to 17 years of age), extolling important benefits for this population.

Vacunación niño vacuna Vaccination in Brazil against COVID-19 in children aged 5 years — 5-year-old children receive vaccination against Covid-19 in the municipal health unit of Tijuca, north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 08, 2022. Brazil has 428 deaths and more than 66 thousand cases in the last 24 hours , accumulates 632,621 thousand deaths. (Photo: © Fabio Teixeira/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

–

Niña vacunación vacuna A mascot is seen behind a child as she receives the Pfizer- — Boys and girls ages 5 to 11 receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Bang Sue Central Station in Bangkok. Photo: © Matt Hunt/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.

–

“However, the refusal for widespread vaccination of girls and boys aged 5 to 12 continues in our national territory,” they said, Contrary to what happens in Mexican consulates in the United States and in other countries, where it has already been decided to vaccinate that age group.

“We cannot allow the human rights of Mexican children and adolescents to continue to be placed in the background, from an adult-centric perspective. The omission and disdain are unacceptable,” asserted the civil entities.

Niña vacunación vacuna Vaccination Point Hosts Epiphany Activities For Local Children — A little girl receives an anti-Covid-19 vaccine under the watch of a young nurse dressed as a kindergarten girl at the Cannizzaro Hospital on January 5, 2022 in Catania, Italy. Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on the eve of Epiphany. Photo: © Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images.

–

Vauna vacunación niñas Vaccination campaign for children aged between 12-14 at the school in Hyderabad — A Pakistani health worker inoculates a student with a dose of a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine during a vaccination campaign for children aged 12-14 at school in Hyderabad, Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, on February 9, 2022. Photo: © Shakeel Ahmad/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

–

Finally, they said You can’t keep “hoping for miracles” nor that the pandemic reaches its limit to take action.

“We demand that public policy measures be designed for such purposesthat they be socially validated, and that the necessary resources be allocated to carry out a generalized vaccination day for children and adolescents in Mexico”, they concluded.

Mexico adds more than 5.36 million cases of Covid-19 and 314,598 deaths, which makes it the fifth country in the world with the most deaths from this cause, behind the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, according to the count of the Johns Hopkins University.