“Shortage of Hepatitis A Vaccine in State Prompts Urgent Call for Prevention Measures”

The hepatitis A vaccine is not managed in the basic scheme of the national vaccination chart of the Ministry of Health, and like the tetanus vaccine, its shortage began with the pandemic.

The Health Services convened an extraordinary meeting of those who make up the State and Intersectoral Technical Group for the Prevention of Acute Diarrheal Diseases (EDAS) and Cholera, exposing the Director of Public Health of the Health Services, Lucía Gabriela Rosales Ortuño, the current problem in the State due to the increase in cases of hepatitis A.

With the aim of reinforcing the dissemination of prevention measures to the general population and epidemiological surveillance due to the increase in patients with this disease.

It is known that the shortage of medication lies in the public sphere, very possibly in the private sector there are vaccines against this disease, for this reason it is requested to reinforce epidemiological surveillance to accurately monitor cases that require hospitalization, urging timely notification of hepatitis A, by social care doctors and individuals, and it was agreed to continue to adhere adequately to the regulations for the supervision and regulation of water supply, as well as to communicate to the population the importance of following preventive measures such as They are washing hands before eating and after going to the bathroom, proper handling and hygiene of food, consumption of bottled, chlorinated and/or boiled water, not eating food on the street that does not have adequate hygienic measures, and In the event of any symptomatology, seek medical attention in a timely manner.

This week, the State Health Services announced that they have the record of 100 people affected by this condition who are between 25 and 40 years of age; and that due to the season it is still considered within the normal range, but the trend is to increase, for which reason it is required that the medical units alert the population and provide information on preventive measures.