Initially, inoculation with the bivalent vaccine (contains both the original Wuhan strain and omicron) was aimed only at some risk groups, such as the chronically ill, those over 50 years of age, and health personnel. Then, on April 24, the health authorities announced the extension of the bivalent to all people from 12 years of age, thus configuring a target population of 15,487,931 people, according to figures from the Department of Statistics and Information. of Health (DEIS), dependent on the Undersecretariat of Public Health of the Ministry of Health. And those same numbers report that only 21.45% have been inoculated with this dose, that is, 3,322,555 individuals.
That is why the Minsal does not stop communicating on its social networks that “you should not trust yourself”, despite the fact that this Wednesday it reported that “new confirmed cases (of coronavirus) at the national level decreased by 27.2% in the last week, while in the last 14 days they are reduced by 52.3%. In addition, fourteen regions have lowered their cases in the last seven days and all in the last two weeks.
When delving into the DEIS figures and reviewing the progress of the vaccination process by age group, the one with the most coverage are people over 80 years of age, since 63.33% (316,385) of the 499,597 people who make up the the target population. Then follows the group between 70 and 79 years, which are 987,009 people, of which 62.60% have already been vaccinated (617,903). While the fraction that has advanced the least is that of 12 to 49 years, since 920,551 people have been inoculated with this dose, that is, 9.2% of the total (9,968,634).
Of course, among the prioritized groups, people over 60 years of age, they already have a coverage of 54.37%, since 1,749,875 of 3,218,654 have been immunized. And in the group between 50 and 59 years old, 27% of the target population has been inoculated (625,745 of 2,300,643 people)
Faced with this scenario, Fernando González, head of the Division of Disease Control and Prevention and Undersecretary of Public Health (s), affirms that “The strategies are mainly focused on the vaccination of people over 60 years of age, which is making acceptable progress and if we continue at this speed of vaccination, we will be able to reach the committed goal of 80% coverage. However, we cannot give up and we continue to implement strategies to reach all territories, so that people who want to get vaccinated can do so easily, accessible, and without any barriers.”
For this, the authorities have implemented several agreements and vaccination points in high-flow areas. In fact, on May 16, the Undersecretary of Public Health signed an agreement with the Walmart company to deploy vaccination points in the chain’s supermarkets that exist in the country.
Regarding the new age group that joined, González established that the rate is good, but he emphasized that the immunization rate should not be neglected: “I would not say that the rate is good, but rather that it is within expectations. The progression of vaccination campaigns has a peak initial and then begins a decrease that has been well studied. The decrease or drop in the vaccination rate is something that is seen in all campaigns, so it is to be expected. In this context, the effort that we are making is to sustain the speed and prevent it from continuing to drop at a faster rate than we would like, and that is why the strategies that we are implementing”.
In addition, he stresses that risk communication is being reinforced: “We have been transmitting that both Covid-19 and influenza are contagious, immunopreventable diseases that can kill people or leave them seriously ill. We say with great certainty that the effectiveness of the vaccines has been demonstrated, that is why we tell our community to get vaccinated safely and calmly.
The foregoing has materialized in figures: in recent weeks, Chile reached the lowest number of hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic. At the national level, there are 33 people in some critical unit and there are health centers that have their ICU free of Covid. In addition, after a constant drop in coronavirus cases that has occurred in Chile, on May 9, the Minsal confirmed that after more than three years “for the first time there were no deaths from Covid-19 in our country.”
Carlos Pérez, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Science of the San Sebastián University and infectologist at the Universidad de los Andes Clinic, also points out that vaccination must continue to be encouraged, since “No significant increase in the number of vaccinated has been observed.”
In this context, he affirms that there are several reasons that explain why people do not attend to get vaccinated as before: “First, the cases have decreased significantly, as have the people who are hospitalized or who die as a result of this infection, precisely thanks to the impact that vaccines have had and that many people have already had an infection and therefore have some protective immunity (…) Let’s also remember that the World Health Organization has already raised the health alert and this is no longer consider a pandemic. So, it became one more infection and for many people who have suffered or who have had family members who have had this infection more recently and have seen that it is a milder condition, they no longer have the same fear or concern or the urgency to get vaccinated.
For her part, Paula Daza, former Undersecretary of Public Health and current executive director of the Center for Public Policies and Innovation in Health at the Universidad del Desarrollo, has highlighted on several occasions that “the international health situation has improved remarkably, with fewer cases, less seriously ill and fewer deaths, thanks to the most important strategy we have had, which is vaccination”.
And regarding the national scenario, the specialist affirms that “to maintain the health situation, we have to understand that vaccination is the most relevant strategy”, and reiterated the call to complete the vaccination schedule, taking into account that the virus continues to put in risk the health of people when they are infected.
2023-05-26 00:35:28
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