Vaccination is a child's right, and even parents cannot oppose it.

In a country where deaths from Covid-19 represent an insult to a public health system built with perseverance and effort since the 1988 Constitution, it is inappropriate to show goodwill towards this contemporary atrocity that is commonly called denialism.

As part of the necessary commitment of society and the State to defend human life, a value above all others, the fight against Covid-19 reaches an essential point in our country when it comes to defending the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11. 

The attempt to subject the decision about vaccination to parental authorization is far from an acceptable discussion. From a social point of view, it implies a historical regression of centuries – to the customs and practices of societies where parents had absolute power over their children, with unlimited permission to dispose of their lives and existence. 

(In slave-owning Brazil, the future abolitionist Luiz Gama was sold into slavery by his own father, a white Portuguese merchant).  

The notion that every human being has the right to enjoy a full life, with everything that nature and society of their time are capable of offering, constitutes a basic element of democracy. This involves guarantees that extend throughout life, even into old age—but begin at the moment of birth. 

For this reason, no one is authorized to prevent another human being, regardless of age, social class, or background, from having access to protection offered by science and accessible to all of humanity.

In times of pandemic, vaccination can represent the difference between life and death -- not only for individuals, but for entire segments of society. (Imagine what men and women of the future will say about the 620,000 deaths from Covid-19 recorded yesterday, which most newspapers have already normalized, removing the information from their front pages). 

Yesterday, after the government itself admitted that the majority of voices heard in the so-called popular consultation were in favor of vaccinating children, most analysts anticipate a retreat from the Presidential Palace. It's possible. 

The fight will continue, however. In Brasília, a protest was seen where children held signs saying "We don't want to be guinea pigs," which shows that a confrontation is brewing. 

This debate will be more relevant now. 

Parents opposed to vaccination will try to keep children from receiving necessary protection.

It would be a serious matter in any case. But when the subject is an epidemic, the debate is not limited to the domestic sphere or any other area of ​​private life. It becomes a matter of public health. 

By protecting pandemic hotspots, the result will be to sabotage the efforts of Brazilians to defeat COVID-19, just as was done with smallpox, polio, measles, tetanus, and so many other diseases that terrorized humanity for centuries before being eradicated. 

In homage to the health authorities of my childhood, I want to recall an unforgettable scene from my primary school days. There, stretching out my arm to men in white coats, I was spared smallpox, which in 80 years of activity eliminated nearly 300 million human beings. 

This is the scene we need to plan to save our children from Covid-19. 

Here, it is worth consulting Article 5 of the Statute of Children and Adolescents, which became law in 1990: "No child or adolescent shall be subject to any form of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty, or oppression, and any attack, by action or omission, on their fundamental rights shall be punished according to law."