With every meal of the day, Byron Encalada takes medicine that helps him control his diabetess. He also takes the pills, to treat hypertension, in the mornings. The 54-year-old man maintains a balanced diet and measures his glucose twice a month.
This care will not be enough for him in the face of a disease that could be fatal for him. Live longer – underlines the tax college teacher – without contracting covid-19, is one of your wishes.
People with conditions like those of Encalada can develop severe symptoms due to SARS-CoV-2 and die. So they should analyze the option of get vaccinated.
The director of UTE Biomedical Research Center, Manuel Baldeón, explains that vaccines of Pfizer Y AstraZeneca, which are applied in Ecuador, they are not attenuated virus. Therefore, chronic patients will not contract covid-19 when inoculated.
But he recommends that they keep their underlying illnesses under control.
Until Wednesday, last update of the Get vaccinated plan, 152,526 people received the first dose. It is not known how many have been administered to the chronically ill.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from the USA, have given instructions on who should not be vaccinated, remember David Larreátegui, epidemiologist.
For example, mention that vaccines are contraindicated for those with allergies to any of its components such as the polyethylene glycol. It can cause anaphylaxis, a systemic inflammation that causes death.
Some alerts, explains the doctorThey are not exactly contraindications, but there are cases for which it is not safe to vaccinate. For example in patients taking immunosuppressants in high doses. “But they can get vaccinated.”
Along these lines, the immunologist Baldeón asks distinguish between what a contraindication implies and the cases in which caution must be exercised. For example, people allergic to penicillin or some type of food require greater vigilance. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be vaccinated, he notes.
On another of the doubts, that older adults have, who were vaccinated against influenza, answers the doctor Baldeón. They can receive the dose against covid, at least one week apart.
“I hope they will soon find a solution for those of us who have allergies,” says Andrea Torres, 46, a homemaker, who is exercising to strengthen her immune system.
She cannot use penicillin or aspirin since her childhood. Although you have heard that you could have problems getting vaccinated, you assure that you will, since it is the only way to protect yourself from COVID-19.
Experience with side effects from receiving the vaccine shows normal signs and evidence that the body is generating protection, the CDC reported.
The most common symptoms, they detailed, are fatigue, headache and muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea. Also pain, redness and swelling in the area where the vaccine was applied.
The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that Pfizer’s vaccine is safe and effective. But there are population groups for which it is not recommended, due to contraindications or lack of data.
“Currently these groups are specifically made up of people with a history of severe allergies, most of them pregnant women and those under 16 years of age ”.
Vaccination, recalls the internist of the Metropolitan Hospital, Pablo Cáceres, is a global public health issue. So it is important to promote the idea that all people get immunized.
“Precautions must be taken with certain patients. For example, those who take anticoagulants are asked to stop taking the drug two days before inoculation and resume it the next. This will prevent a large bruise from being generated at the site where the vaccine is applied.
On the other hand, in the case of patients in cancer treatment, the doctor comments that it is necessary to have the approval of the treating specialist. He should make an assessment of the general condition of the patient’s immune system.
Sulma Díaz, 57, waits for the green light from her doctors to receive the vaccine, since she was diagnosed with grade two breast cancer, in October 2020. In the meantime, he maintains the care to avoid getting covid-19.
This mother happens at her house. It leaves with all the protection measures towards the Carlos Andrade Marín Hospital, of the IESS, once a week, for your chemotherapies. With the idea of raising his defenses, the doctors suggested that he get a flu shot. They have not yet decided if he will be able to receive anticovid.
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