With the arrival of the first cold weather in Mendoza and the cases of coronavirus in Mendoza having dropped exponentially, the Minister of Health, Ana María Nadal, This Tuesday will launch the free 2023 flu campaign for health professionals and the most vulnerable groups.
“The campaign is focused on people over 65, also for health professionals. It will be carried out without turn and the hospitals and health centers “, Nadal said in a press conference that he gave in the Mendoza Legislature, when distinguishing the team that performed the first bone marrow transplant.
The head of the Health portfolio clarified that there will be different spaces set up to avoid crowding and discourage uncomfortable waiting for the vaccine, especially taking into account the group that will begin to be vaccinated with the 2023 flu strain. .
The other recipients of the flu vaccine who will have free access to the doses are:
- Healthcare professionals.
- Over 65 years.
- pregnant women
- Puerperas (up to 10 days).
- Children from 6 to 24 months.
- Children from 2 to 3 years with underlying diseases.
- People with different types of comorbidities (in this case they must present the corresponding medical certificate).
Likewise, the official highlighted the importance of vaccination, especially in people over 65 years of age, since “this process of generating antibodies helps us to better wait for outbreaks of respiratory diseases.”
The provincial Ministry of Health reported that for this stage of the campaign they have 39,000 pediatric doses, 29,400 for adults and that they will be available in the authorized vaccination centers of each department of Mendoza. In addition, they recalled that in these establishments they continue with the vaccination campaign to complete Covid-19 schemes.
At this point, Nadal was asked about the coronavirus situation in Mendoza and responded: “Today we are in what we call the decline of the great wave, Covid-19 does not predominate in viral diseases.”
Regarding the booster doses against the coronavirus, “the Covid-19 vaccine has to go hand in hand with the flu and the coronavirus booster is indicated for very limited groups to older than 75 years and immunodepressed.
On the other hand, Nadal said at the press conference that was held in the Legislature that since the circulation of Covid-19 in Mendoza has decreased, in the study of the predominant respiratory viruses it does not have a greater incidence, although the flu does, whose impact is trying to cushion with immunization.
Vaccination in pharmacies
The president of the Pharmaceutical College of Mendoza, Mario Valestra told Los Andes that the 2023 flu vaccine can already be purchased in all drugstores and has a private cost -without social tax- that ranges around $7,000.
“The doses are available and the PAMI vaccination was also released throughout the country. And the elderly can go to the pharmacies for the members of the social work for retirees, logically it is free, ”said Valetra.
The cost of the dose -for individuals who are not within the universe of free- also varies according to agreements or social works.
National Vaccination Program
Argentina received in mid-March, 5,500,000 doses corresponding to influenza vaccine trivalent adult, of which 1,500,000 doses of pediatric influenza vaccine trivalent and 2,300,000 are doses of trivalent adjuvanted influenza vaccineintended for people over 65 years of age, which will be applied from today in Mendoza free of charge and on demand.
The vaccine is free of charge for the mentioned groups and can be applied together with any other dose on the calendar.
From that date until now, the lots began to be delivered with an anticipated distribution, prior to the launch of the campaign, allowing the decentralization of the doses in each of the jurisdictions, they indicated from the Health portfolio.
In addition, the Ministry recommended that influenza vaccination should be carried out in a “timely manner, ideally before the beginning of winter, the stage of greatest circulation of the influenza virus.”
However, and in line with the national, regional, and local epidemiological scenario, they indicated that influenza vaccination will continue for the rest of the year due to the dynamics of viral circulation. With the launch of the anti-influenza strategy, the health portfolio also indicated that “it is a good opportunity to remember the importance of the application of vaccines against Covid-19, aimed at preventing complications caused by the disease.”
In this sense, four months after the application of the last dose, a booster dose against the coronavirus can be administered together with the flu vaccine, although it focuses on risk groups and not where the disease does not have a greater impact, such as children and adolescents.
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