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Low vaccination against covid is deadly
By Pablo Esteban*
In Argentina, 90 percent of the 419 people who died this year from the virus were not vaccinated, or had not received the booster on time. Emerging variants and the new invitation to prick your arm.
The pandemic is in a new phase: although the coronavirus no longer exhibits the spread that it showed during previous years and, fortunately, does not cause the health crises to which nations had to get used to, the planet is facing a virus that cannot be underestimate.
According to the latest data provided by the World Health Organization, covid caused the death of 1,900 people during the last month. Although at a global level it does not constitute a public health emergency, the appearance of new variants represents a latent risk against which we must keep our guard up.
The Ómicron subvariants called “EG.5” (nicknamed Eris), “BA2.86” (or “Pirola”) and XBB 1.5. They are the ones with the greatest presence, due to their ability to escape the body’s defenses. The root problem is the lack of vaccination. According to the Our World in Data site, if in the peaks of 2021 and 2022 the world was immunizing at an unprecedented rate, at present that figure is almost laughable. Data: On June 25, 2021, 42 million people were vaccinated worldwide; On September 29, 2023, only 15,120 did so.
The word of science
“Although it is obviously not circulating at the levels we had during the pandemic, the virus is still present. New Omicron sublineages appear, which are characterized by better evading immune responses. This marks the need to adapt vaccines and have bivariate formulas,” says Daniela Hozbor, principal research biochemist of Conicet at the Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology of La Plata.
By bivariates, the scientist refers to those used to protect organisms, both from the ancestral virus (the one sequenced in Wuhan when it all began) and those that are infected with Ómicron and sublineages.
An example that the coronavirus is still present is provided by two States that are characterized by different health policies: Russia, the country that registered the first vaccine – Sputnik V – and France, perhaps the European territory with the most anti-vaccine groups. During the last week, the number of hospitalizations grew in 49 Russian regions and the incidence of infections was 11.4 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
As a result, infections increased by 13.8 percent compared to seven days earlier. In France, due to the increased spread of the new variants – Eris is the majority but XBB is also circulating – and an epidemic peak, the vaccination campaign scheduled for the middle of the month was brought forward two weeks.
The diagnosis is more or less similar for all nations: as the danger generally decreased, the populations relaxed and the learned care guidelines (hand hygiene, ventilation, isolation in the event of symptoms) became more flexible. As a result, compared to what happened before, the application of reinforcements is very poor. In parallel, governments also relaxed the controlling epidemiological surveillance of which viruses are circulating, and the amount of testing.
The vaccine paradox
In Argentina the situation is not so different. The Ministry of Health led by Carla Vizzotti is organizing a campaign so that those over 50 years of age can access their corresponding doses. According to data provided by the federal vaccination registry, during the last six months, more than 10 million people in that age group did not come to receive a booster injection against coronavirus.
As evidence has shown, applying additional doses is the best tool to slow the spread. Under this premise, both those over 50 years of age, pregnant people and those under that age with chronic diseases should receive a dose every six months. For the rest, an annual booster is considered adequate protection.
“In Argentina, over the last few weeks, we have seen a 120 percent increase in cases (from 1,480 to 3,187 infections). Therefore, it is essential that we review our vaccination status and that if we do not get vaccinated, we can do so,” says Hozbor. And he continues: “The current situation was achieved thanks to the use of vaccines, they are essential. There are studies that claim that during the first year of use, these saved around 20 million lives.”
The data from the health portfolio are conclusive: the latest epidemiological records suggest that of those who died in 2023 from covid (419), 90 percent had not received any dose, or did not have their booster dose.
“More than 13 billion doses were applied in the world; More than 70 percent of the planet’s population got at least one. During the last stretch of the pandemic, people no longer get immunized because they perceive that there is less risk. But the paradox is that there is precisely less risk because before, they were vaccinated,” highlights the researcher. Therefore, keeping protection up to date is essential, even more so if we take into account that, as time passes, the response that vaccine platforms help generate loses effect.
An expected award and announcement
The importance of vaccines in saving millions of lives during the pandemic was specifically recognized earlier this week. On Monday, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced and Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were honored, scientists who made the main contributions linked to the study of messenger RNA, key in the design of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Thanks to their basic science contributions, the planet managed to contain a health crisis that could have been on a much larger scale.
The FDA (regulatory body equivalent to Anmat in the US) recently approved the Novavax formula against the new variants of covid, which includes the Ómicron XBB 1.5 protein in its composition.
Perhaps this is the last big news before the presentation of Argentine technology, the long-awaited “Arvac Cecilia Grierson” vaccine, a 100 percent indigenous platform designed by a team from Conicet and the National University of San Martín, which will be fundamental for guarantee the immunity of the population in the future. It is currently being tested in phase III, on 2,000 volunteers who agreed to be part of the trials to demonstrate that it is safe and effective: a dream that millions hope will come true.
2023-10-27 14:30:23
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