One year after the start of the last national vaccination campaign against Covid-19, an outbreak of infections highlights the need for the population to be inoculated with a new booster dose. Although Coronavirus currently manifests itself with symptoms similar to those of a cold, there are people at risk who may be more affected.
This was detailed by the epidemiologist and director of Student Health at the University of Talca, Daniel Jiménez Acuña, who maintained that “in recent weeks we have seen an increase in cases. This is an increase between 10 and 15% of what was observed.”
The specialist established that it is very likely that the numbers of cases handled in the country are lower than the number of real infections.
“There is an underdiagnosis of the real cases, because testing is no longer at the same level as before, it is rather voluntary and that means that many people do not take the test or do not report positive results, so the control, and probably the figure is a little higher,” he explained.
For that reason, the academic’s call is for people to review their vaccination schedules and administer the vaccine if appropriate.
“A year has passed since the start of bivalent vaccination, with risk groups: older adults, chronically ill people, people with immunosuppression and health teams, and the invitation is to review the Ministry of Health’s mevacuno.cl site to see the status of our vaccination and if 12 months have passed, receive this new booster dose to face Covid-19,” he said.
Cold?
Another factor that may influence this new outbreak is the change in the symptoms with which the condition occurs in those who are already inoculated.
“In the majority of the population it only presents as a stronger cold, with headache, myalgia and other things like that, but mild,” said the specialist.
Thanks to the immunity generated by vaccines, the vast majority of people do not experience more serious health complications.
“In general, the cases are mild to moderate, however, there is also a risk group that is increasing hospital occupancy, and we must monitor those cases in particular,” said Jiménez.
Vaccination
The epidemiologist and director of the Department of Public Health of the University of Talca, Erika Retamal Contreras, highlighted that, in Chile “there continues to be the circulation of more than two strains of Covid-19.”
However, he acknowledged that until now we are still in the presence of the same strains that we had until a few months ago, without the appearance of new variants.
Regarding the vaccines that will be used in this new process, Retamal pointed out that “it will depend on the strain that is mostly circulating at that time at the national level.”
Likewise, he recalled that it is essential to “maintain vigilance on what is happening in Latin American countries that are producing vaccines, and take it into consideration when opting for some type of inoculation.”
2023-10-30 14:12:19
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