A study this Friday showed a worrying epidemiological data, although it is perceived as extemporaneous in an Argentina where we only talk about the economy and not about covid.
More than 75% of Argentines over 40 years old It has been six months or more since they have received a new booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
This “stop” in immunization occurs despite the fact that the Ministry of Health highlighted in the winter the importance of updating vaccination in those over 60.
The key is the low perception of risk of becoming infected. Furthermore, 53.2% are not willing to give themselves a new dose.
The “attitude” of getting vaccinated (or not)
In the survey titled “Attitudes and behaviors towards Covid-19 vaccination”, which was carried out from May 31 to July 17 through telephone interviews, 76.9% stated that they had not applied a new dose 6 months ago or further.
94.9% received at least one vaccine, and 42.4% said they had had covid at least once between March 2020 and May 2023.
In this survey, carried out by the Argentine Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University and the Raffo laboratory, the profiles that showed the greatest probability of vaccination against covid were also determined.
Women and those over 70 double the chances of receiving at least one dose of vaccine, compared to men and other age segments. And people with intermediate and high risk of Covid disease triple the probability compared to the low risk group.
At the same time, getting vaccinated against covid emerges as a more likely behavior at a very low socioeconomic level.
In this climate of very low application of reinforcements, 71.9% of those who were not vaccinated believe that the rest should not be vaccinated either.
Only 14.5% said that strategic personnel and risk people should do so, out of “duty” and “necessity.” Also “the unconscious ones who do not take care of themselves when faced with the disease” and “those who wish to or are sure about getting vaccinated.”
Most received 4 doses
85.1% of vaccinated respondents received 3 doses or more. 54.9% received four30.9% received three, and 13.4% received two doses.
The number of doses received does not seem to depend on socioeconomic conditions, because it is observed in similar proportions among professionals, non-professionals, formal or marginal workers, and in poor and non-poor people.
In the AMBA there is the highest proportion with four doses or more (59.7%) compared to the interior of the country (51.2%). This increases after age 60. High-risk groups were vaccinated with more doses compared to intermediate or low-risk groups.
Is it discomfort from side effects that discourages boosters? No.
47.7% of those interviewed stated that they had not experienced post-puncture symptoms. 31.3% declared “few symptoms” and only 20.1% declared “quite a few.”
The opinion about giving yourself a booster
Among the 53.2% who do not want to receive another dose, the groups with the greatest predisposition to do so are between 50 and 59 years old (33.1%) and belong to the intermediate risk group (29.8%). Those aged 70 and over (34.4%) represent the highest percentage of indecision.
The situations that would motivate the application of the vaccine or reinforcement are the express indication of the doctor (78.5%), the need for the complete scheme to travel abroad (76.0%), and in third place, the increase in cases due to a new wave or variant (71.2%).
13.2% indicate that they do not think vaccination is necessary, an opinion that predominates in the group of unvaccinated people. 62.8% consider vaccination to be effective, while 24.0% indicate that they thought it was important to get vaccinated, but that “it is no longer necessary”.
Along these lines, those who had covid, live in the interior of the country and people with completed secondary school and university or tertiary education, consider that they do not think vaccination is necessary.
Why reinforcement is important
“The coronavirus is not being perceived as something important enough to get vaccinated every six months,” he tells Clarion the infectologist Eduardo López, consulted after the results of this study.
“The survey marks just one point, not the entire spectrum. People also do not perceive that the bivariate vaccine is a new vaccine“more than a reinforcement,” he adds.
The new bivalent vaccines are effective not in themselves against the ancestral strain from Wuhan, China, but with the Omicron strains, which were evolving
What are the causes and consequences of flat tire stopping?
“The Ministry of Health today recommends a booster for people over 60 years of age and anyone with risk factors (with a bivalent vaccine). One injection every 6 months. Now, those under 50 without comorbidities can perfectly apply one vaccine per year” says Lopez.
These recommendations, he emphasizes, are worldwide: “It is proven that this scheme works, although it is debated whether instead of 6 it is every 8 months in older adults, because after that time the antibodies drop a lot.”
Beyond the recommendations from the Health portfolio, López insistently points out that “although people have lost track of the disease, and feel that they have already given more vaccines or perceive that covid no longer does anything, It is advisable to maintain the vaccination schedule every 6 months“.
Mainly, those who are over 60, immunosuppressed and cancer patients.
“The rest of the population should get used to Covid being an annual vaccine. In the coming months a monovalent vaccine will appear with the strain that predominates at that time, like it was the flu vaccine“, he concludes.
2023-11-25 09:00:31
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