The bivalent vaccine, which serves as a booster against COVID-19, is already being applied in Lima and Callao and 56,802 older adults will receive it after enrolling in the Home Care Program (Padomi) of the Social Health Security ( EsSalud).
The executive president of EsSalud, Dr. Arturo Orellana Vicuña, presented the start of this vaccination campaign and highlighted the efforts being made to cover the vast majority of older adults with this dose, for which there is an equipped fleet vehicular.
Various vaccination mechanisms
The bivalent booster vaccine contains two components: the first protects us from the original virus and the second from the lineages of the omicron variant that predominates in the world, which allows a better immune response against the new lineages of COVID-19.
In addition to vaccination for those enrolled in Padomi, who have been scheduled to visit their homes, there are two other ways to access this dose. The second modality is to go to the vaccination point and the third by calling line 107, option 0 and requesting the bivalent vaccine at home.
During the first week of activation of the bivalent vaccine in Lima and Callao, EsSalud placed more than 500 doses in adults over 60 years of age. Likewise, during 2022, through Padomi, it was possible to vaccinate 43,891 older adults with the 4th dose and 9,955 with the 3rd.
EsSalud began on January 3, 2023, the application of the bivalent vaccine against COVID-19 to 900 care and administrative workers in the critical areas of the Rebagliati hospital, continuing with the Sabogal and Almenara networks.
The Social Health Security has 34 bivalent booster vaccination points in Lima and Callao, which will be much more when this booster dose reaches healthcare and benefit networks throughout the country.
“Together for 65 years”
The Echeandía Céspedes couple have been together for more than six decades. They are Juana and César, both 92 years old, who belong to the Padomi group of EsSalud and receive medical care at home, as well as their medicines and therapies.
They met at a family reunion in the same house where they live today, in the same place where he received his four doses against COVID-19. When friends ask them how they have been together for so long, César is the first to answer.
“We apply the “law of the league”; that is, it stretches, but always returns. Problems or discussions pass and we always return to normality, like the league”, explains our insured.
Juana only asks God to give her more health “to be with my old man, my children, grandchildren and my great-granddaughter”, while looking at a photograph that could have been taken before the pandemic with the youngest of the family, a five month old baby.
Today, this couple of grandparents is vaccinated with the bivalent dose, they feel safer and happier, and they thank the EsSalud staff for always accompanying them.
The granny of the century, 102 years and five pandemic waves
Sara Berrospi Sifuentes has more than 100 years of life. She maintains an enviable vitality, walks calmly leaning on her walker and knows that her Padomi doctor has come to visit her, receiving her happy because he always tells her: “you look good today, Sarita”.
This granny has lived through the entire pandemic with her family, in fear of catching it and suffering the consequences. But, since EsSalud provided her with her dose against COVID-19, she has felt calmer.
She was married in 1920, had six children, but her husband passed away 28 years ago. Her children always remember the story their parents told them, since Sarita was a novice when she was 15 years old, she was preparing for profession in a religious order, but she met the man of her life, with whom she fell in love and with whom she married.
Sara likes to talk about politics, just like she did with her husband. She now feels very happy because her bivalent dose leaves her even more protected.
More in Andean:
(FIN) NDP/KGR
Published: 1/27/2023
