AMERICA/BRAZIL - The "Pact for Life and for Brazil" supports the vaccination of children and young people: right to life and health

Wednesday, 26 January 2022 coronavirus   children   vaccine  

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Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - The signatories of the "Pact for Life and for Brazil" support the vaccination of children and young people, as is happening in several countries, as a sign of responsibility and a deep sense of ethics towards the millions of Brazilian children and adolescents. Previous vaccination campaigns in Brazil have been successful in controlling diseases such as measles and polio, which affected the child population and many families, earning the country international recognition for its vaccination program. "Today we cannot accept the sabotage campaign around pediatric vaccination - underlines the note sent to Fides -, during a pandemic still far from being controlled, ignoring the right to life and health of an age group that includes about 69 million Brazilians, in flagrant contempt of the Constitution and the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA)". The note recalls that Brazil is becoming one of the countries with the highest number of Covid deaths in the world, with some 622,000 deaths recorded so far, most of which could be avoided. The signatories of the document therefore condemn maneuvers aimed at discrediting vaccines, "with the relentless bombardment of baseless claims", which undermine parents' confidence in the vaccination of children, as well as misleading statements by government officials. They therefore call on governors and mayors to "spare no effort to ensure that pediatric vaccination continues in the country, reaching all children, without forgetting those who live in a vulnerable situation". Parents and teachers are invited to ask the Brazilian State "what is needed at this time, to guarantee not only the health, but also the future of the youngest". Finally, citizens are urged to remain lucid in the face of the pandemic. "As a free and democratic society, built on the pillars of ethics, common sense and the common good, we will will come out of this stronger" the note concludes. The "Pact for Life and for Brazil" was launched on World Health Day, April 7, 2020, by the Bishops' Conference of Brazil (CNBB), together with the Bar Association of Brazil (OAB), the Arns Commission, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Brazilian Press Association and the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the "Pact" recognizes that the country is going through a serious health, economic, social and political crisis, and calls on everyone, in particular the rulers and representatives of the people, to exercise a citizenship guided "by the principles of solidarity and human dignity, based on a mature and co-responsible dialogue, in search of shared solutions for the common good, in particular of the poorest and most vulnerable". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 26/1/2022)


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