Faced with the low vaccination coverage of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI) and against Covid-19 reported in 2022, the Departmental Health Service (Headquarters) aims, in this new management, to increase the percentages and protect the population against the various diseases.
According to the data exposed yesterday by the head of Epidemiology of the Headquarters, Rubén Castillo, in the Final Public Accountability 2022, only 14 municipalities exceeded 95 percent of the I-SRP (measles, rubella and mumps vaccine). Eight reached 95 percent of the III Penta (against pertussis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, others) and 27 exceeded 95 percent of vaccinated with I-HPV (against human papillomavirus).
“We have not reached ideal coverage. Misinformation, customs, lack of co-responsibility continue to prevail, ”he said. The PAI seeks to reduce mortality and morbidity rates caused by immunopreventable diseases by vaccinating children and adolescents according to the National Vaccination Scheme. They ask parents to go to the centers.
anticovid vaccination
Vaccination coverage against Covid-19 has practically been maintained in the last year, Castillo said. “The 2022 management we have increased 1 percent and we hope that these coverages will increase and reach a larger population,” he said.
The latest report indicates that 74.4 percent of the population over 5 years of age received the first dose and 63.68 percent received the second dose; from the third to the fifth dose, the percentage is lower with 27.94 percent, 10 percent, and 1 percent, respectively.
To improve this coverage, the Headquarters launched a campaign in January of this year to reward people who come to get immunized with a raffle for a motorcycle. “Tomorrow we will launch the system of how the motorcycle raffle will be,” said the director of the Headquarters, Freddy Medrano. In this way, incentives, vaccination brigades and the opening of mass centers will continue, among other mechanisms, he said.
During the 2022 administration, the Headquarters executed around 85 percent of its planned budget, greater than that of 2021.
