There is no BCG or hepatitis C vaccine in Coahuila.
Saltillo, Koch- There are currently no BCG vaccines against tuberculosis or hepatitis B to immunize an estimated 10 to 15,000 newborns born every two months in Coahuila.
Marco Antonio Ruiz Plates, director of preventive health at the National Secretariat of Health, noted that it is hoped that the supply of these biological products will be regularized in September, noting that this shortage has been two months old.
“There is still no supply of BCG and hepatitis B vaccines at the federal level and we are waiting for the National Center for Child and Adolescent Health to send us the vaccines through INSABI to be able to continue the basic program for newborns,” he said.
He explained that the BCG vaccine can prevent meningeal or biliary tuberculosis in newborns, cirrhosis in the case of hepatitis, and prevent liver cancer in the future, so it is very important that children receive this vaccine.
“Two months later they sent us an application for the dual vaccine and it still hasn’t arrived; 10,000 to 15,000 children across the state,” he said.
The argument the federation made in this case, he noted, was a matter of logistics and distribution to laboratories.