Tuberculosis vaccination vs. SCID pilot. GIS checks scale of refusals in hospitals

Dr. Pawel Grzesiowski, at a press conference on Monday, provided information on the ongoing confusion over the tuberculosis vaccination, which, according to the PSO, is carried out in the first days of a child's life, even before discharge from the hospital. In any case - it should be implemented, although recently there have been quite a few refusals to allow vaccination. This is an effect - an unwelcome one - of the start of the pilot screening of newborns against SCID.

Severe combined immunodeficiency is a contraindication to tuberculosis vaccination. However, according to MZ and GIS experts, the vaccination should be carried out on the current basis, as there is no rationale to wait for the results of the screening: the risk associated with TB infection and contracting the disease is much higher than the likelihood of SCID (a few - four, five - children may be born with the problem each year), while any child whose screening confirms SCID will be cared for, Pawel Grzesiowski said. - They will receive a drug at the Children's Health Center that deactivates the vaccine.

The pilot, which was supposed to improve the situation of newborns, was implemented without proper regulations - only now the MZ and GIS are organizing a system of "bridge" vaccinations for children whose parents took advantage of the opportunity and did not agree to vaccinate their child before the screening results. How many such children are there? The information is expected to be known in a few days, Dr. Grzesiowski reported only that the situation is not homogeneous, as there are hospitals where there are no refusals at all, and there are departments where half of the children born were discharged without vaccination.

One of the results of the confusion with the pilot is the dismissal from her post of the long-serving national consultant in neonatology for immunization. Prof. Ewa Helwich lost her position because she pointed out a contradiction between the PSO and the way the screening pilot was implemented.