Despite the fact that in Mexico the only authorized vaccine to protect children and adolescents against Covid-19 is the one made by Pfizer, there are minors who would have received the dose of Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca during a period in which they were not eligible to be immunized, as reported by the 2021 National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) on Covid-19.
According to the exercise prepared by the Ministry of Health (SSa), in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), whose survey period was from August to November 2021, a sample of 6,329 minors between zero and 17 years, 0.03 percent may have been immunized with unapproved biologics.
When requesting an explanation from the health authorities, the INSP attributed this to a “memory error” of the surveyed population, because “a single adult person provided the information of all the members of the household and could have incorrectly reported the status of vaccination”.
On June 24, 2021, the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, announced that the Pfizer vaccine was the first biological approved for use in adolescents by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) .
Since then, various studies on its efficacy and safety to be applied in children have resulted in its being the only one accepted by the health authorities so that children aged five and up to 17 receive it. in the country.
According to what was stated in Ensanut 2021, of the minors who received the authorized biological, less than 10 percent have one dose and the rest already have two, while those immunized with those of Russian origin or the one developed in Oxford They only received one.
According to the response given by the INSP to this newspaper, the prevalence of vaccination corresponds to 22 minors, of which 14 received Pfizer; five, AstraZeneca; one, Sputnik-V; one, Cansino, and another one did not know or did not respond.
Regarding this situation, specialists urged the Ministry of Health (SSa) to clarify the results of Ensanut.
Despite considering that, if true, this would not represent a major consequence, the epidemiologist Alejandro Macías pointed out that the federal agency must clarify whether unauthorized doses were supplied to the children.
“I am not aware that they have been applied. It would be up to the Ministry of Health to clarify whether Sputnik vaccines were given to those under 18 years of age, in which case there would be a procedural error; I would not expect a catastrophic consequence, but it is up to the authority to clarify it, ”he said in an interview.
Karen Rosales, a neonatologist pediatrician, pointed out that one explanation could be that mothers and fathers could have resorted to other alternatives to protect their children.
This would imply possible departures from the country to seek the vaccine outside the national territory, as the INSP also suggested in its response. The specialist also warned that families could have gone to clandestine sites to find an available dose.
“It is something that worries us a lot, because we are trusting the word of people and the black market that leaves us in the hands of we do not know who,” he said.
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