In a tragic turn of events, Santino Godoy Blanco, just 4 years old, passed away from pneumonia on Nov. 3, according to multiple reports.
If that name sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because Blanco was the face of one of Argentina’s various vaccination campaigns.
You can see an example of the type of campaign that Blanco was featured in below:
Santino Godoy Blanco, 4 year old star of vaccination campaign in Argentina, dies pic.twitter.com/rEwJ6KZqrT
— Tiossinob (@tiossinob) November 13, 2022
The above ad is promoting vaccinations against measles, rubella, mumps and polio.
As multiple Argentinian outlets are reporting, the actual circumstances of Blanco’s tragic passing are raising some eyebrows.
Detail Zero noted that Blanco’s mother has filed a “complaint for abandonment” against Dr. Raul F. Larcade Municipal Hospital.
According to Blanco’s mother, her child had complained for a week that he wasn’t feeling well.
Blanco also reportedly suffered from a high fever.
The hospital, however, is being accused of sending the child back several times.
While the autopsy ultimately determined that Blanco died of pneumonia, the child reportedly received several different diagnoses, including gastroenterocolitis and laryngitis.
¿Cuántas inoculaciones eficaces y seguras de cuantas marcas le dieron a Santino Godoy Blanco en pocos meses?
¿El médico se las recetó?
¿Respetaron el tiempo prudencial entre distintas marcas y tipos de virus?
Además de usarlo para publicidad ¿Le hicieron seguimiento? pic.twitter.com/kSnQzsWWWG
— ??Leticia Sierra Arrieta ?????????? (@sagilet) November 10, 2022
The mother, Augustina, explained that at first she was told her son’s condition was a viral issue. After the initial visit, in which she went because her son’s fever would not go down with basic ibuprofen, they were given the viral diagnosis and returned home.
That’s when Blanco began throwing up. His condition only worsened from there, before he eventually died.
“I’m not going to stop until the doctors who treated my son are removed,” Augustina allegedly told San Miguel Mayor Jaime Mendez.
Blanco’s tragic death does follow an alarming trend of perfectly healthy young people around the world passing away unexpectedly.
While Blanco’s death does appear to be a case of poor diagnosing, at least based on his mother’s account of events, it is still adding to a list that already includes too many young people.
Note: As with any story that substantively mentions vaccines, it’s worth remembering that vaccines in general have saved countless lives since the late 18th century. The introduction of the first smallpox vaccine paved the way for the extinction of that disease and later the virtual defeat of polio, measles, mumps, and many other diseases in the developed world. The COVID-19 vaccines have been exceedingly controversial due to among other things their short development time, extremely short testing time, and political efforts to force vaccination on some citizens. The Western Journal neither recommends nor discourages use of COVID-19 vaccines. As with every other choice in life and the broadly conservative principle of self-determination, it is up to individuals to determine what trade offs will benefit them most.
CORRECTION, Nov. 14, 2022: An earlier version of this article included an incorrect reference to the country that used Santino Godoy Blanco in a vaccine campaign.
CLARIFICATION, Nov. 17, 2022: The title of this article was updated to make it clear that doctors don’t believe vaccines were responsible for Santino Godoy Blanco’s death. An autopsy found the boy died from pneumonia.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
