The director of the Expanded Program on Immunization (PAI), Dr. Aída Lucía Vargas (Luchy), highlighted this Friday the importance of completing the vaccination schedule for children, especially those under five years of age.
“Las vaccines they are safe, and unvaccinated people are at greatest risk of getting sick and dying. The vaccines reduce the risk of complications and deaths,” she said when interviewed on the radio program “To be well” by Quisyeya FM, where she was invited to speak about the Day against measles, polio and rubella developed by the Ministry of Public Health, within the framework of the Vaccination Week of the Americas”.
Vargas explained that it is important to apply all the doses and maintain the reinforcements because “viruses mutate and react differently in each of the organisms.”
Taking as an example the case of measlesa vaccine that is applied in two doses, Dr. Luchy clarified that adults are protected “because they have already had the disease or are vaccinated.”
“You don’t see that anymore. measles. In our country there is no circulation, but if we do not vaccinate, the diseases can debut again. In some countries of America and Europe, the circulation of measles. Some 23 million people have stopped dying in recent years of measles thanks to vaccination,” commented the vaccination expert.
In the case of the vaccine for polioa disease that occurs in the wild only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the oral vaccine, through the feces of the baby, leaves the virus to circulate, thus producing herd vaccination.
As he polio As the measles are in the process of being eradicated. The goal is to achieve it, through vaccination, as happened with smallpox.
The vaccine for diphtheria, a disease that has not been eradicated, is controlled by placing five doses of biological, and a booster every 10 years.
“The number of doses will depend on the studies and the efficacy of the vaccine. Yellow fever, a common disease in Asia and South America, is getting one for life, but before it was every 10 years. The scheme is changing”, added the specialist.
Vargas made a call to pregnant women, so that they also place all their vaccinessince “they transfer those protective antibodies to their baby” and to girls from 9 to 14 years old to be vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).
“A minute of prevention is better than an hour of medical attention,” he stressed.
Doña Luchy recalled that the country has 1,421 vaccination posts nationwide and stated that the Ministry of Public Health guarantees the basic vaccination scheme according to the epidemiological profile that we have in the country.
Dr. Vargas said that a mother can continue to breastfeed her baby, since breast milk does not interfere with the effect of the vaccines in your body.
He reiterated that the vaccines they do not prevent the contraction of diseases, but when suffering from them they are as mild as possible.
He also clarified that it is not recommended to medicate the child before inoculation, “because not all children get a fever.” In the event of a febrile episode, a cold cloth can be placed over the injection site and the antipyretic that your baby regularly consumes as ordered by your pediatrician can be used.
In the case of rotavirus, which is an oral vaccine, if the child vomits with some gas, it is not necessary to vaccinate again.
