Kreplak confirmed that the province of Buenos Aires is preparing for the third wave of COVID-19: the impact of the Delta variant and the vaccine combination

The Minister of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, Nicolas kreplak, warned that Buenos Aires’ health system is preparing for the third wave of coronavirus, this time driven by the Delta variant, which is more contagious and causes more serious respiratory illnesses. He reported that it is transmitted by both people who have been vaccinated and those who have not. In return, he acknowledged that studies show that vaccinated people are better protected against developing serious symptoms. and die from the virus. For this reason, since Thursday, teams are sent so that those who have received component 1 of Sputnik V – and have already passed 60 days – can complete the regimen with doses from other laboratories.

These measurements, as well as the results obtained by the vaccine combination studies of the different laboratories, have been published in a zoom that the official of Axel Kicillof shared with a group of journalists, in which he participated Infobae.

During exhibitions, Jorge geffner, doctor in biochemistry and researcher at CONICET, specifies that “it is certain that the Delta variant will be made community“And that for this reason” we need a two-dose schedule. “He also called on the population” not to delay heterologous vaccination “.

Like Kreplak, the scientist assured that vaccination with heterologous treatment regimens that combine the available vaccines “It exhibits similar or superior efficacy to approved homologous schemes.”

In turn Daniela hozbo, who participated in the CONICET vaccine combination research, clarified that “all combination regimens are safe” and that in all variants “second inoculations increase antibodies”. The study was carried out on 500 volunteers who live in the neighborhoods of La Plata, Quilmes, Avellaneda and Lanús. Of this total, the results of 163 of them are already available. Only one of them was hospitalized for a condition “unrelated to vaccination”.

In all cases, the reactions undergone by the inoculated ones were “mild”. During the first three days of application, they exhibited “mild fever, redness in the area of ​​application, cavities and headache”, reactions similar to those recorded with the first doses, regardless of the vaccine.

The third wave and the Delta variant

“It is possible that current infections are at a low level and may increase again. The third wave will come and we are preparing for it“declared the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires and estimated that in Argentina” it can happen like in the United Kingdom, where there have been many cases, but of little seriousness because most of the people are vaccinated ” .

In the province of Buenos Aires, 1,500,000 people must complete the program started with Sputnik V and, for this, between Friday and Saturday, 400,000 teams were taken to combine with doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca.

“We strongly suggest them not to do it, but if someone does not want to receive combined vaccines because he prefers to wait for the second part of Sputnik, he must cancel the delay,” said the minister.

In this context, he clarified that you will not be able to choose the second doses to receive, as it happened, and said that “there is no reason to choose between AstraZeneca and Moderna because both produce the same effect and are equally good”.

– When do you think this scheme will be completed? -the official was questioned via the zoom which he shared with several specialists.

-We bet the vaccine combination will help during August to complete vaccination programs so that society is better protected against the arrival of the Delta variant. The most important thing is to complete the immunization schedules. Evidence indicates that with any vaccine, people will be fine because they are great – he said.

During his presentation he presented a series of films in which it emerges that so far the predominant strain in the province of Buenos Aires, with 57%, is Gamma P.1 (Manaus); It is followed by Lambda C.37 (Andina), with 20%; the Alpha B.1.1.7 (UK) strain has a circulation of 15%. The rest of the variants have a much smaller circulation, the Delta (India) reaches 1%. The results correspond to a study carried out on 1219 detected cases.

Laboratory data revealed that in swabs from patients with positive results and whose genome matches the Delta variant, the viral concentration is between 300% and 500% higher than, for example, the Gamma strain.

Currently, the average death rate for coronavirus patients in Buenos Aires is 2.6%. He also said that in July the figure had fallen to 1.5%. An encouraging fact attributed to vaccination. During the first wave, the death rate peaked at 3.5%.

For Kreplak, the second wave in the country, and especially in Buenos Aires, “was great”. To support this argument, the Minister of Health explained, through a series of graphs, that in the province of Buenos Aires “the first contagion curve reached its maximum peak after 98 days since the confirmed cases started to increase in a significative way “. In exchange, the second wave peaked 60 days after the sustained growth of cases.

At the close of the exhibitions, the pediatrician Bologna squad He stressed the importance of completing the vaccination program, given the imminent community circulation of the Delta variant and the imminent arrival of the third wave. “International experience indicates that in most countries infections have occurred in unvaccinated people ”.

In the UK, for example, 35% of patients hospitalized with the Delta variant of the coronavirus had the full immunization schedule, while 55% had not received any doses. Not for lack of vaccines, but for refusing to be vaccinated.

“Vaccination is the best tool we have to keep us safe. Vaccination does not guarantee that one hundred percent of people vaccinated are not infected, but the risk of developing the disease severely is greatly reduced ”, reinforced the professional.

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