A few weeks ago, the Under Secretary of Public Health asked the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Immunizations (Cavei) assess the feasibility of introducing the Covid-19 vaccine into the National Immunization Program (PNI). And now, after several days of discussion, the group of experts decided that it was time to add a dose to the national strategy.
What would this change translate into? Jaime RodriguezCavei president and head of Pediatric Infectology at the German Clinic, explains “Covid-19 vaccines are no longer vaccines approved only for emergency use and now have national approval from the Institute of Public Health (ISP) and Being a program means that they will be universal and free of charge and will also have a concept of the mandatory nature of the rest of the vaccines in the vaccination plan. “
In other words, the Vaccination would be integrated as a permanent public health measure in Chile, similar to other vaccines such as influenza or measles.
As for who the strategy would be directed at, “the candidates would be the same target groups as at present“. At the moment, The vaccine is available for people over 60 years, immunocompromised patients, health professionals, people with chronic diseases and pregnant women, as long as they have been one year since their last dose.
Therefore, the formal proposal concludes that “a vaccine against Covid-19 must be included in the exemption order No. 50/2021, which provides compulsory vaccination for the groups defined by the Ministry of Health, to prevent morbidity and mortality, especially in the groups most at risk, and to preserve the integrity and capacity of the health system.
The group of experts also recommends that it be part of the winter campaign: “Coronavirus and influenza vaccines should be given simultaneously in the corresponding population groups to optimize vaccine availability and administration logistics.”
Now, it is the Ministry of Health that must decide whether they should accept the recommendation of the group of experts. and consulted by Third, From the inside of the wallet they warn him The proposal is being studied in detail and a decision is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
More than four years have passed since the first case of coronavirus landed in the country. Just weeks later, cases increased suddenly, there were even days where more than 30 thousand cases were confirmed per day. Now this is one of the viruses with the least circulation: According to the health care report, in the last week 141 cases were confirmed, that is, a daily average of 20.
The winter of 2020 was one of the most critical times. On June 24, health system workers had to care for the 9,006 people who were hospitalized in some unit because of the coronavirusbecoming the peak of the pandemic. Now, more than a dozen of the patients do not need intensive care to treat the disease.
However, María Luz Endeiza, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Clínica Universidad de los Andes and member of Cavei, warns that “covid did not leave the planet but remained endemic; That is, we live with viruses and we have outbreaks from time to time, but they are more controllable. That does not mean that people can stop getting vaccinated, because the virus is still spreading and there are people who are getting very sick.“.
According to the latest report, three people died from the disease last week. In addition, time has shown that vaccination has been one of the most effective measures to combat the disease.
The study is about impact of vaccination campaign in Chile (Direct impact of the Covid-19 vaccine in Chile), which was carried out by researchers from the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) and Dr. Mauricio Canals, from the School of Public Health of the University of Chile, they saw a significant reduction in the disease, as a result of the inoculation campaigns.
Among the findings, the study specifically measures, during the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, vaccination prevented 1,030,648 cases, 268,784 hospitalizations, 85,830 admissions to Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 75,968 deaths related to Covid-19 in people 16 years of age or older.
2024-08-22 17:30:00
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