The Ministry of Public Health (MSP) resolved remove from office the authorities of the Honorary Commission for the Fight against Tuberculosis and Prevalent Diseases, in charge of serve and manage the vaccination center where the incident occurred last Tuesday. The resolution awaits in the Presidency, and will be signed in the next few hours.
Meanwhile, the new authorities have already been appointed. The current head of the MSP’s Children’s Program, Alicia Fernandez, was appointed to chair the commission. She is accompanied by the current deputy director general of the portfolio, Maria Giudici, Y Oscar Silveira, advisor to the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), reported Fishbowl (Blue FM) and confirmed The Observer with various government sources.
The change comes after the decision of the minister Daniel Salinas – ex officio president of the institution – to renew the leadership of the commission, as well as the vaccinators that inoculated 158 children with a fraction of the Sinovac, instead of the pediatric of Pfizer, which was the one that corresponded to them. The fact it happened this tuesday between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Universal Medical Society vaccination center, located at 3588 Millán Street (Montevideo). It was one of the vaccinators who realized, already in the afternoon, that the doses were being administered in the wrong way.
“There was a mix-up in the vial where the vaccine was extracted,” explained this Wednesday the member of the MSP Immunization Unit, Gabriel Peluffo. However, there is one ongoing administrative investigation to know the details and determine responsibilities.
The Universal Medical Society, for its part, disclaimed responsibility for the management of the pediatric anticovid vaccination. As indicated, the company provided the premises to the MSP, which was attended and managed by the commission where the authorities were removed.
Due, The portfolio decided to withdraw from this Wednesday all the remnants of Sinovac from the vaccinations. “It’s one of the processes so that it doesn’t happen again,” Peluffo said.
In addition, the ministry contacted the families of the minors to monitor them and explain what happened. So far there have been no abnormal reactions after the administration of the Sinovac dose, in any of those involved, authorities reported.
In this sense, since the vaccinators used a tenth of the Chinese vaccine thinking that they were injecting the one from the American laboratory, what they actually inoculated was a volume five times smaller than a typical Coronavac. “It’s a tiny dose” and “the vaccine doesn’t work,” Peluffo emphasized to the press.
The statement released by the MSP on Tuesday night, with the report on the situation, had also insisted that major consequences were not expected despite the incident in the inoculation.
Antecedent
The mistake occurred because the vaccines were kept in the same place, and there was confusion among the staff.
According to consulted sources, the error originated in the personnel of the Honorary Commission for the Fight against Tuberculosis. The MSP took administrative and judicial measures, after notifying the inspection sector, he reported.
