Vaccination brigade in the Lurigancho prison. | Minsa
This Tuesday, September 12, vaccination brigades from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) traveled to prisons in different parts of the country in order to begin immunizing the prison population against COVID-19. According to the entity, the inoculation of booster doses of the bivalent vaccine was prioritized for people over 60 years of age and those who suffer from any comorbidity.
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The director of Immunizations of the Minsa, María Elena Martínez Barrera, announced that the objective is to vaccinate more than 93 thousand inmates in prisons throughout the country and their relatives. “The brigades will go to all the penitentiary establishments in the country, including visiting days, so that inmates and their families can be vaccinated,” said the specialist.
In this regard, the deputy director of Health of the National Penitentiary Institute (Inpe), Guisselle Lozada Rodríguez, reported that, so far, only 25% of prisoners have received the bivalent vaccine against COVID-19. However, this figure is expected to change in the coming days, since, from César Vásquez’s portfolio, it was announced that monovalent doses will no longer be applied.
Minsa announces that they will only use bivalent vaccines
In order to face the arrival of Eris, the Government published Technical Health Standard No. 208 in the Official Gazette El Peruano, which establishes that it is not necessary to have completed the vaccination schedule with monovalent doses to receive the booster dose of the bivalent.
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The difference between these doses is that the second has two components: the original strain of the coronavirus virus and another that corresponds to the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant, so it offers protection against the new lineage.
“Non-vulnerable people have a good immune system and are practically defending themselves with their own body, but the vulnerable will always be more susceptible. That is, it is crucial to get vaccinated, not so much for the young patient who has the disease, but because the person never knows that they may be facing someone who is immunosuppressed, and, if infected, their situation becomes complicated,” mentioned pulmonologist Carlos Saavedra. director of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Privada del Norte (UPN), to Infobae Perú.
According to specialists from the Ministry of Health (Minsa), the EG.5 variant of COVID-19, also known as Eris, is more contagious than its predecessors. (Composition: Infobae Perú – Minsa/National Geographic)
The general director of Strategic Interventions in Public Health of the Minsa, Cristian Días Vélez, explained that the main characteristic of the also called EG.5 “is that it has a greater capacity to spread between people; Therefore, we could have a greater number of cases quickly. And if we add to that the fact that people at risk are infected, without being vaccinated, then (there is a greater) probability that more severe cases will occur in the following days.”
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In that sense, José Raúl Urquizo Aréstegui, dean of the Medical College of Peru (CMP), warned that if the population is not vaccinated, a new wave of infections could begin, which is worrying considering that “our capacity for care, as well as as availability of beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) continues to be deficient.”
“If the population continues without being vaccinated, we could face a public health problem, especially in the group of older people and/or those with pre-existing diseases. Since the health conditions in our country are not the best; then the risk is greater. […] We are again behind,” said the specialist in conversation with Infobae Perú.
It’s official now. The bivalent vaccine is the only dose to be applied in the national immunization process. / Infobae
Preventive measures continue to be universal: hand washing, ventilation of environments, use of a mask and rest. The same is true for the symptoms, which present similar to that of a common flu: fever, fatigue, body discomfort, difficulty breathing, headache, loss of smell or taste, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, diarrhea and /or cough.
2023-09-13 01:16:21
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