Although more than 80% of the Argentine population completed the primary vaccination scheme against Covid-19, only 40.7% received the first booster dose -the third vaccine-, a key tool to strengthen the production of antibodies in the context of the new wave of cases that the country is going through, specialists indicated.
At the moment, 89.7% of people residing in the country started their vaccination scheme, 81.6% completed it and 40.7% applied their first booster dose, according to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Health.
In the population over 50 years of age, which is the one that represents 90% of deaths from Covid, 96.4% started their regimen, 94.2% completed it and only 67.2% applied their first dose of reinforcement.
In adolescents, coverage with the primary regimen is also high (92.4% started their regimen and 80.2% completed it), but the booster dose is considerably lower: only 29.2% applied it.
Although the statistics include up to the first booster dose, in Argentina a second booster began to be applied on April 14.
In the Federal Health Council (Cofesa), it was suggested that in this first stage the prioritized groups for the second reinforcement are made up of health personnel, people 50 years of age or older and 12 years or older with immunocompromise who have received the first booster 4 months ago or more.
“What is happening is that the jurisdictions, once they have vaccinated that first target population, are advancing with the other populations; so there are already provinces that apply the second booster to the general population,” the infectious disease doctor Florencia Cahn explained to Télam. .
And he recalled that “the primary or initial scheme for most of the population is two doses, but for people over 50 who had received Sinopharm or immunosuppressed people, the initial scheme is considered to be three doses.”
“Once this scheme is completed, for the application of the first booster, you have to wait four months and then another four months for the application of the second booster. This has to do with the period in which a drop in antibodies begins to be observed “, he detailed.
In the event that the person has had Covid-19 “you can wait up to 90 days to get the booster but if the patient is vaccinated before it will not hurt him”.
“What we know is that the first month after having Covid there is an immunity generated by the infection, so it would not make sense to get vaccinated when you are discharged,” he explained.
In the Federal Health Council (Cofesa), it was suggested that in this first stage the prioritized groups for the second reinforcement are made up of health personnel, people 50 years of age or older and 12 years or older with immunocompromise
This week, within the framework of Cofesa, made up of the Nation’s Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, and her peers from the 24 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires, it was agreed to start the application of a booster dose against the coronavirus in the population aged 5 to 11 years with RNA platform vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) that will be administered at least 120 days after completion of the initial immunization schedule.
The measure had the scientific support of the Argentine Society of Pediatrics (SAP), whose specialists indicated that “there is already enough information on the safety of these vaccines in girls and boys.” And they gave as an example the case of Chile and the United States, “where progress has been made in the authorization of reinforcements for this population,” the health portfolio reported in a statement.
To date, in this population (from 3 to 11 years old), 80.3% started their scheme and 63.6% completed it.
With the available vaccines, the lack of application of the booster doses is an issue that worries specialists from different areas and also the national and jurisdictional health portfolios.
During the announcement of the application of the second dose, Vizzotti highlighted the importance of the first booster dose and remarked that “there are still 14 million people who completed their initial scheme more than four months ago and did not apply it.”
“We need this population to get closer to vaccinations. We must continue to encourage vaccination, despite the population’s low perception of risk,” the minister considered in April, although the perception of risk has surely changed in recent weeks due to the increase in cases.
For his part, the accountant and data analyst Martín Barrionuevo maintained that “in the last six months, 34,250,000 vaccines were applied, which represents 76% of those over 3 years of age; in that total there are people with two doses and there are surely more than 30% of the population who have not been vaccinated in the last 180 days”.
“According to different studies, antibodies fall over the months, so it is important, given the increase in cases we are experiencing, that people come to get vaccinated, complete schemes or give themselves the corresponding booster doses,” he added. .
“In the last six months, 34,250,000 vaccines were applied, which represents 76% of those over 3 years of age; in that total there are people with two doses and there is surely more than 30% of the population that was not vaccinated in the last 180 days”Martin Barrionuevo
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, which is updated on Sundays, the week of May 15 to 21, 43,487 cases of coronavirus were reported, which represents 27.9% more than the previous week (33,989).
Although there is an increase in reports, that figure represented a slowdown in infections compared to the previous week (from May 8 to 14), when cases had grown by 92.61% compared to the previous seven days (17,646 reported). had reported between 1 and 7).
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