Low Vaccination Coverage and Polio Outbreaks in Peru: Urgent Action Needed

In March of this year, a one year and 3 month old baby contracted poliomyelitis in the Peruvian Amazon and showed that low levels of vaccination had ended three decades free of this disease in Peru. Although the Ministry of Health assured that it was an isolated case and derived from the vaccine [se descartó polio salvaje]Two months later, a Health Emergency was declared in 13 regions due to high risk of polio and measles outbreaks. As of October, none of the vaccines for both diseases have exceeded 63% coverage and are far from the minimum 95% expected to guarantee protection.

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María Elena Martínez Barrera, director of Immunizations at the Minsa, confirmed to the Andina agency that to date there are more than 137,000 children who have not yet completed their doses against polio. This vaccine consists of three doses and two boosters that are given between 2 months and 4 years of age. According to the official, 63% (302,000) of children under 5 years of age have received up to 3 doses of the vaccine so far this year.

According to the Minsa’s Single National Repository of Health Information (Reunis), as of September 30, 193,417 children under 6 months of age had yet to be vaccinated with the three doses against polio, while 332,063 4-year-old children had not completed the vaccination. second reinforcement. In both cases, the regions with the lowest level of coverage are Loreto, Ucayali, Puno, Huancavelica, Lambayeque and Lima. In the latter, for example, only 35% coverage of the second reinforcement has been reached.

Protection against measles is even lower. Of the 508,991 children under 18 months of age who should receive both doses of the vaccine, only 46.7% have been vaccinated as of September, leaving 271,247 children unprotected. The regions of Lima, Ucayali, Madre de Dios, Lambayeque and Arequipa do not even reach 40% coverage.

Vaccination coverage of the National Scheme as of September 30, 2023.

Of the 15 vaccines in the National Scheme registered by Reunis, only those applied up to 7 months of age exceed 60% coverage, with the exception of the third doses of the pentavalent and anti-polio (59% and 59.7%, respectively). ). The rest is around 30 and 50% of the immunized population as of September 30. The one with the worst coverage is dt2 (against diphtheria and tetanus) which is applied to pregnant women: only 10.1% of 282 thousand women have been applied.

Specialists consulted by this newspaper agree that low vaccination coverage also leaves thousands of people, especially children, unprotected from communicable diseases such as dengue or pneumonia. The vaccine against the latter is at 57.4% coverage, with more than 217,000 children under 12 months of age unvaccinated, despite the fact that this year 26,528 episodes and 208 deaths due to pneumonia in children under 5 years of age have been reported. Of the deceased, 143 were less than one year old.

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For Josefa Vásquez Cevallos, dean of the College of Nurses of Peru, the problem is not only the lack of communication to encourage vaccination of the National Scheme but the insufficient provision of resources to help cover the gap in health personnel. In dialogue with El Comercio, she maintains that there is a shortage of at least 17,000 nurses in the country. “You should not only think about campaigns. On a day-to-day basis, not all shifts are covered; there are parents who can only take their children on weekends. No investment is made in hiring human resources. We have nurses who are subcontracted or have very low salaries,” she says.

This situation is especially evident in regions such as Loreto, Madre de Dios or Ucayali, where long river trips are required to reach the most remote communities. “Many nurses do not go to Loreto or Ucayali because the salaries are 1,500 or 2,000 soles, which is not enough for them to leave their cities and they are exposed to risk. Health personnel with differentiated salaries are needed,” adds the dean.

Information channels

Parents who want to know which vaccines their children are missing can visit this page: Vaccination card

Vaccination is free and you can access it at health centers. In this link Find the one closest to your location.

For more information, call toll-free Line 113″ rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank” style=”color: rgb(0, 86, 172); background-color: transparent;”>113 Health, from any landline or cell phone operator nationwide, and mark option 1. You can also write via WhatsApp or Telegram to the phones 955557000 from 952842623. Or send an email to [email protected].

Minsa will carry out three polio vaccination days until December in order to close the gap.

2023-10-27 18:21:48
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