Doctor uses “fake photo” to encourage vaccination of babies against Covid

A sensationalist post published by doctor and influencer Bruno Gino on social media this week fueled the debate about vaccinating babies against Covid. “These are real photos of children under two years of age, admitted to ICUs in serious condition and diagnosed with Covid-19!” wrote the general practitioner from Ceará when showing four images of intubated babies. “Not vaccinating is letting people die… is the plan to kill all the children?”, he asked in Publication.

In the same post, he also criticized federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira, who was against the inclusion of the vaccine in the National Immunization Program (PNI) for children aged six months to five years. The parliamentarian quickly replied the influencer pointing out that one of the images cited by the doctor is from 2018, two years before the pandemic. “In addition to being tyrannical, they are liars and spreaders of fake news,” said Nikolas.

Gazeta do Povo located the photo in several image banks with a description referring to hyperbilirubinemia, a health problem that interferes with the baby’s blood and has no connection with Covid.

O doctor admitted his mistake in new post when stating that he had been mistaken and that “the same virus from 2020” would still be “killing children in 2023”. However, the other photos presented by him in the first publication were taken during the pandemic — none recently — and one of them even illustrated a report from the newspaper O Globo from August 2020, when the vehicle stated that “serious cases of Covid-19 in children they are rare.”

For infectious disease doctor Francisco Eduardo Cardoso, this shows that “there is no need to vaccinate children”, as this group is the least affected by the disease and not even the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the age group as a risk group.

“In the Epidemiological Bulletin 152 itself, which the Ministry of Health used as a reference to justify this arbitrariness, it is written that only 120 children from 0 to 14 were diagnosed with Covid-19 between June and July this year”, further stating that the cases are not urgent. “They themselves gave the references to combat their arguments”, said the infectious disease specialist.

Cases of Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health

Furthermore, according to the Federal Government’s online newsletter that provides data on the disease in Brazil, in the week of November 4, 2023 – the most recent published on the panel -, they were notified 44,412 new cases of Covid-19 in the country with a record of 178 deaths.

“That is, one death every 250 notifications, considering that this death is actually due to Covid, [e não de outras doenças associadas]”, reported a mathematician consulted by Gazeta do Povo.

According to him, the death rate this week was 0.4% and encompasses all notifications from adults, children, the elderly and people with comorbidities, without detailing which ones were vaccinated or not.

“Remembering that, in 2020, we had 700 thousand cases [da doença] It is 1.5 million of cases in 2021, even with vaccination growing”, pointed out infectious disease specialist Francisco Eduardo Cardoso, while also informing that there are several risks — already highlighted in a report by Gazeta do Povo — regarding the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Data regarding infected children

In a note sent to Gazeta do Povo by email, the Ministry of Health reported that “children are not exempt from serious forms of the disease, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (SIM-P) ” and that, “between January and August 2023, there were registered 3,441 cases and 84 deaths from SARS due to Covid-19 in the population under one year of age”. The folder did not inform which people were vaccinated or whether they had other associated diseases.

The Ministry also informed that from 2024 “vaccines against Covid-19 will be included in the routine National Vaccination Calendar of states and municipalities with priority for immunization”, and that groups at greater risk of developing severe forms of the disease will also be included. disease, such as the elderly, immunocompromised, pregnant women and postpartum women.

Infectious disease specialist Francisco Cardoso criticizes the inclusion in the National Immunization Program (PNI) — which has traditional vaccines with proven efficiency — and points out that parents should decide specifically about the Covid vaccine, considering risks and benefits. “It is important to talk to the pediatrician, taking into account the individualities of each child”, he concludes.

Gazeta do Povo also tried to contact doctor Bruno Gino on the phone number available on his social networks, but the report was not answered.