bone scan Anti-vaccines, a phenomenon to face
The former Minister of Health Jaime Arias He recalled that anti-vaccine movements are on the rise in the world and, now, they take advantage of the so-called false news to echo their statements, so that they go viral on social networks and generate rejection of the communities in the face of immunization plans. “There is an international movement against vaccines that has done a lot of damage,” said the minister. The same was stated by doctor Carlos Trillos, who recalled that “the vaccines that have been applied in the world have security, in addition to being necessary vaccines.” Both agree that anti-vaccines are a challenge today, especially with covid. “To face them, rigorous planning must be done and public confidence created that things will be done well and fairly,” Arias concluded. The WHO has also warned about how dangerous these types of groups are, since they consider that they go against the public health of the countries. Even since 2018, the WHO classified them as one of the health risks in the world. “Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent the disease: it currently prevents 2 to 3 million deaths per year and another 1.5 million could be prevented if global coverage were improved,” said WHO.
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HPV, key against cancer
Santiago Estrada, general director of the VID clinical laboratory, in Medellín, and a doctor specializing in microbiology, explains that the HPV vaccine, fundamentally, what it seeks is to reduce the risk of cervical cancer and other types of cancer, such as anal. “It is an effective vaccine and immunity is for life.” Here it is worth remembering that after the complaints registered in Carmen de Bolívar, where they argued that the minors who received the vaccine suffered adverse reactions, the vaccination dropped. For example, in 2012, according to the Ministry of Health, the coverage in the first dose was 97.9% and 96.8% in the second, but in 2016, after the mess in Carmen de Bolívar, the coverage was 6, 1% in the first dose and 1.6% in the second. The analyst said that it is necessary to clarify that the investigations did not conclude that the reactions occurred due to the application of the vaccine. “That vaccine has no adverse effects.”
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Measles, risk in a porous border
The complex border that Colombia has with Venezuela, where territorial control on the trails is almost impossible and the absence of vaccination in that country, for those consulted, poses an additional challenge, taking into account that there is already a history of measles. The challenge focuses on preventing an outbreak, such as the one in 2018, when the disease was detected again in the country. Adriana Pacheco Coral, from El Bosque University, recalled that at that time this outbreak could be contained, because it had good vaccination coverage and was able to vaccinate child population and migrant women of childbearing age. He argued that as migration continues, you cannot lower your guard, because they can continue to arrive and you have to look for them. According to the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin, with a cutoff at week 48 of the year, 691 have been reported, compared to 228 from the same cut, but in 2019.
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Control Influenza, the key to avoid collapse
According to the Ministry of Health, influenza outbreaks can cause between three and five million serious cases and up to 500,000 deaths each year in the world. For this reason, he explained that the purpose of vaccination is not to prevent infection, but to avoid “the most serious consequences and deaths.” Faced with why it is important for the country to maintain coverage in this vaccination, Adriana Pacheco Coral, director of the doctorate in Public Health at El Bosque University, assured that “in addition to covid, we also have circulation of various respiratory viruses, including influenza”. Regarding this vaccine, PAHO pointed out that influenza vaccination continues “to be the best method available to reduce the burden of severe influenza”, in addition to that “vaccines are also the most effective intervention to prevent seasonal influenza and respond to pandemics ”. Among the population that should be prioritized to receive these biologics are children between 6 and 23 months, pregnant women and adults aged 60 and over.
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