“Successful start to Winter Vaccination Campaign 2023 as PAI Director emphasizes importance of immunization”

The director of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI), Héctor Castro, described yesterday as “successful” the first day of vaccination of the Ministry of Public Health. The campaign will run until July 14, when it will seek to immunize as many people as possible.

“The campaign officially started on Monday and it was a very good vaccination day. The compañeros were working, spending the day even because there were many people at the vaccination clinics. We have exceeded our objective”, said the director in communication with radio 1000 AM.

He mentioned that the objective was to apply about 20,000 doses of the influenza vaccine in a single day, but the goal was exceeded and he reiterated the importance of immunization to prevent serious cases of respiratory viruses, taking into account the arrival of winter.

Castro indicated that on the recommendation of experts and in consensus with the National Technical Advisory Committee for Immunizations (Cotenai), the influenza, covid-19 and pneumococcal vaccines should be applied at least one month after a person has presented symptoms of chikungunya.

“We have reached almost 4,000 doses of vaccine against covid-19 and we are also offering pneumo 23. This campaign aims to complete it in a period of 14 weeks. Winter is coming and we have to be protected in advance, because these vaccines begin to protect us two weeks after we have been applied, ”he added.

The winter vaccination campaign began on Monday and will run until July 14. The quadrivalent vaccines against influenza are applied, the annual bivalent vaccine against covid-19, aimed at people aged 12 and over, and the pneumo 23 vaccine, intended for people over 60 years of age who have not received this dose in the last five years.

The National Animal Health and Quality Service (Senacsa) announced to producers and the general public that two important studies were scheduled to certify the country as free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination. This, with the aim of demonstrating the absence of transmission of the disease in the national territory and evaluating the efficacy of the immunization carried out during this 2023.

They explained that it is expected that a total of 960 livestock establishments previously selected for the purposewhere some 23,000 samples will be collected for the study to demonstrate the absence of the spread of the virus and some 6,048 for the evaluation of the efficacy of the anti-foot-and-mouth disease vaccination carried out last March.

As they indicated, the sampling start date is scheduled for next Monday, April 7 and will last 6 weeks. In turn, they reported that the samples will be collected by official Senacsa brigades made up of veterinarians and paratechnicians. “These two studies are strategic and fundamental requirements for the recertification of a country free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination,” they said in a statement.

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In relation to this, within the framework of the “Training and Accreditation Program in the Management of Foot-and-Mouth and Anti-Brucélica Vaccination Year 2023”, this Tuesday began the training and evaluation aimed at applicants for technical coordinators and sub-coordinators dependent on the animal health commissions of the Animal Health Services Foundation (Fundassa).

According to the data from the first period of the inoculation campaign, the veterinary institution had reported that despite the delay presented due to climatic factors the immunization of 13,404,186 bovines against foot-and-mouth disease was achievedwhich represented a decrease in the order of 120,000 and 130,000 versus last year, while 134,576 owners of establishments were registered.

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The director of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI), Héctor Castro, described Tuesday as “successful” the first day of vaccination of the Ministry of Public Health. The campaign will run until July 14.where it will seek to immunize as many people as possible.

“The campaign officially started on Monday and it was a very good vaccination day. The compañeros were working all day even because there were many people at the vaccination clinics. We have exceeded our goal”said the director in communication with radio 1000 AM.

Related note: Health launched the “Winter Vaccination 2023” campaign

He mentioned that the objective was to apply about 20,000 doses of the influenza vaccine in a single day, but the goal was exceeded and reiterated the importance of immunization to prevent severe cases of respiratory viruses, attending to the arrival of winter.

Castro indicated that on the recommendation of experts and in consensus with the National Technical Advisory Committee for Immunizations (Cotenai), the vaccines against influenza, COVID-19 and pneumococcus they should be applied at least one month after a person has developed symptoms of chikungunya.

Read more: Itapúa: 40 grandparents were the first immunized against influenza

“We have reached almost 4,000 doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 and we are also offering Neumo 23. This campaign aims to culminate in a period of 14 weeks. Winter is coming and we have to be protected in advance because these vaccines begin to protect us two weeks after we have been applied, ”she added.

The winter vaccination campaign began on Monday and will run until July 14. The quadrivalent influenza vaccines, the annual bivalent vaccine against COVID-19, aimed at people 12 years and older, and the Neumo 23 vaccine, intended for people over 60 years of age who have not received this dose in the last five years.

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