Despite an impending seventh wave in May, the adoption of Anticovid vaccination remains alarmingly low.

The complete vaccination scheme with the application of the third dose only reached 32% of the population over 18 years of age in the country. Experts consider it “very low” to face a seventh wave scheduled for May. Despite this, the Government reported that the fatality rate is very low and talks about reducing biosecurity measures.

“The solution to overcome the pandemic is vaccination. Considering that the complete scheme is three doses, we must recognize that we are still low, but the containment of the disease did not only occur in Bolivia, but in all countries of the world. The vaccine stopped the covid and made it an endemic disease ”, Guillermo Cuentas, former Minister of Health, explained to Página Siete.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, the departments with the lowest level of vaccination are Beni with 19%; Potosi with 27%; Pando and Oruro with 30% each. But, the levels of application of the first dose amount to 85% nationwide and 13% single dose. This means that around 98% of Bolivians have at least one dose in their schedule.

The Ministry of Health reported that at the peak of the fifth wave, which occurred in the middle of last year, there were more than 34,000 cases per week. This figure dropped by almost half in the sixth wave, reaching 16,000 positives in December 2022. Now he reported that the country has the lowest levels of contagion in the entire pandemic with 500 infections the previous week and highlighted the low levels of lethality.

“Despite having a greater number of cases, we had fewer deaths and we must convey that to the people. Although it is difficult to avoid the spread of a disease, the important thing is to avoid deaths, ”he said. For example, the lethality level dropped from 6% in the first wave to 0.1% in the last wave. In other words, deaths dropped from 85,511 in the first wave to 128 deaths in the sixth wave.

“Vaccines are still available, no longer in massive places, but in the nearest health centers. We must work and prepare for the cold season. We authorized the application of the influenza vaccine a week ago. All patients can look for this vaccine that will give them the necessary immunity”, added Auza.

Given the low levels of infections and deaths, Auza said that if the country reaches the lowest levels that occurred between one wave and another, new measures could be taken. “We will sit down with the National Health Strategy Council and we will analyze the possibility of making more (measures) more flexible and determining the elimination of the emergency,” he said.

The director of the Departmental Health Service (Headquarters) of La Paz, Prisley Rivero, assured that a new wave is coming. “It must be anticipated that, according to studies, the seventh wave is projected for May. The main care measure is vaccination. With that we are going to continue working and we are going to insist on it ”, he specified.

“If we want to leave the chinstrap – added the professional – and we want to develop a normal life like the one we had before, we must prioritize vaccination. We are going to recommend to the population that the main biosecurity measure (to avoid serious symptoms of the disease) is vaccination. If so, we will gladly, from Sedes La Paz, ask that you stop using the chinstrap.

Jorge Gómez, former director of the Beni Departmental Health Service (Headquarters), said that the application of the third dose is very low due to the confidence of the population. “People, with the first, the second dose and the reduced levels of contagion, felt protected and put aside the responsibility of applying the third dose. In addition, the authorities stopped encouraging vaccination; and there is no response from the people.”

For example, Gómez mentioned that the cases of coqueluche began to rise because the population was not vaccinated. “It seems that the anti-vaccination movement is taking root not only in Beni, but throughout Bolivia. That brings us harm, ”he added.

But what could happen with a new wave? Gómez said that in the first wave of the pandemic in Beni “90%” of its population was infected. “I would venture to say that some level of herd immunity was achieved in the end. This is giving us a certain sense of well-being, but in the long run, depending on the mutations that the virus may have, it could be harmful to us ”.

He compared the covid with influenza and indicated that to combat this disease, annual vaccines must be distributed that combat the new strains. “I think that in the long run this will happen with the covid, see what strain is coming out, analyze how we can deal with it and do a seasonal vaccination. In the long run, that is going to happen not only in Bolivia, but in the world.”

The doctor mentioned that now the mask has been stopped even in closed environments. “If we take out the herd immunity factor, (Beni) may be one of the regions of the country that has the highest number of cases. If it were not like that, if herd immunity works as it should, it will not represent a strong blow to the population ”, he maintained.

The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa, called on countries to strengthen surveillance and remedy deficiencies in covid vaccination coverage to end the emergency and better prepare for future health crises.

“Covid-19 highlighted that no country or organization in the world was fully prepared for the impact of this pandemic,” said Barbosa, during a press conference the previous week. This includes the Americas, a region “marked by inequities,” said the specialist.

Currently, the incidence rate (that is, the number of new cases) of the covid is between 20 and 30 times lower than that of a year ago, but “although we are not totally out of danger, we are in a much better place,” he added. .

Despite these advances, Barbosa warned that “Covid-19 is still with us and the virus has yet to establish itself in a predictable pattern.”

“In the last month, we have seen more than 1.5 million new cases and 17,000 deaths,” he said. “We can’t let our guard down,” she added.

In addition, Barbosa warned that although detection rates have decreased, it is crucial that countries maintain and continue to strengthen vigilance, since the SARS-CoV-2 virus “can evolve and adapt rapidly.”