Hospitalizations of children under 1 year of age decreased by over 80% at the Antofagasta Regional Hospital.
Antofagasta, November 13, 2024.- 17:12 pm
The immunization campaign against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) reached 83.67% coverage in the Antofagasta region. This was reported by the Minister of Health, Alberto Godoy, who highlighted the positive effect of this initiative that managed to significantly reduce hospitalizations of children under 1 year of age in the area.
“We are very satisfied with the results obtained in this campaign, which was developed for the first time in the country and which ended this October 31 in primary health care. This winter – after a long time – the capacity of pediatric critical beds was not an issue and we largely attribute that to the immunity we achieved with this medicine,” said Godoy.
The authority recalled that Chile was the first country in Latin America to acquire the monoclonal antibody Nirsevimab to prevent RSV, as part of the Winter 2024 Campaign.
“The results of this campaign have been really very good – it managed to reduce hospitalizations of children under one year old with this disease by over 80% – and represents great progress in our objective of significantly improving the health of all the inhabitants of our country” said the authority.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
The director of the Antofagasta Regional Hospital, Antonio Zapata, valued the positive impact that immunization with this monoclonal antibody had on the occupancy of pediatric beds in the healthcare network.
“Thanks to this passive immunization, which is this drug that is applied to infants and children under 1 year of age, we managed to reduce the number of hospitalizations due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus by more than 80% at the Antofagasta Regional Hospital,” he said. Zapata.
And he added that “this is very important since this respiratory infection is the cause of a higher occupancy rate of pediatric beds in our hospital and, therefore, the application of this drug represented an important advance in public health.”
Finally, Zapata warned that a significant percentage of the minors who were hospitalized this year with RSV had not been immunized. “For this reason, we call the attention of parents to allow the use of this medication with their children, in order to contribute to reducing the presence of this infection, which can be very serious.”
COMMUNES
According to figures provided by the Department of Statistics and Health Information of the Minsal (Deis), in the Antofagasta region, 2,751 infants were immunized, which meant achieving 83.67% coverage.
By communes, those that achieved the greatest coverage were Tocopilla (109.28%), María Elena (100%), Mejillones (96%) and Calama (86%).
On the contrary, the communes that achieved the lowest immunization coverage were Antofagasta (80.76%), San Pedro de Atacama (78.71%), Taltal (75.86%) and Sierra Gorda (60%). Ollagüe did not register a population in the target group.
Given these good results, immunization against RSV – which remains active until this month only in maternity and neonatology hospitals – will be repeated next year as part of the Winter 2025 Campaign.
