Monday 12 December 2022
05:00
The province’s health minister, Dr. Manuela Ávila, referred to the increase in cases of Covid-19 and the concern generated by low vaccination statistics.
In this regard, the minister stressed that “the first thing we all need to know is that it is a disease that is here to stay and that it will have its ups and downs as also happens with the flu and in the particular case of Covid we are having a increase that is worldwide and Argentina is no exception”.
“In the case of Catamarca we have also had an increase in recent weeks and we have always worked on it, what has worried us a little is the lack of adherence we have to vaccines, so from Healthcare we continue to insist on this”. , indicated.
In this line, he added that “the tests, the attention has never been interrupted, I think the community is in a relaxation phase and this worries us about what vaccines are because if we remember the phases of the pandemic they were very different before of vaccines and after vaccines and clearly the vaccine has helped us ”.
“The idea is to continue working as we have done, encouraging adherence to vaccines. As regards coverage, for example, with a first booster dose we have 62.4%, with a second booster dose 18.1%, which is very little, it is clearly very low and obviously with the third dose of recall is even lower, which is 0.6% because clearly if you don’t have the second reinforcer the numbers will go down,” he said.
Likewise, the minister reiterated that “the idea is that they complete the vaccination scheme against Covid, the vaccinations are available, we have also resorted to different strategies, the house-to-house strategy, the knots we make at the Cape, the nodes in the squares, that is, different strategies for people to access and yet this has not had good results or the results we would like”.
“Clearly it is not just a matter of Catamarca, it is seen throughout the nation, we met in Cofesa with all fellow ministers and the truth is that we all had the same problem of poor vaccine adherence. We always emphasize that the benefits that vaccines have are many, therefore reality has changed us and we must complete the vaccination schemes ”, he assured.
Use of the chin strap
Regarding the use of the chin strap, Ávila expressed that “our decision raised by the COE Salud has been the use of the chin strap in healthcare, both in public and private hospitals and the optional one for the community, but we must use it and strengthen all personal care, distancing, hand washing not only for Covid care but also for other respiratory conditions that have also shown an increase such as the case with the flu or flu and that we are with a large number of cases.
“We basically have all the tools and all the strategies seen to continue working with this, if we’re going to need more community support,” he stressed.
