The government has pledged to accelerate the vaccination plan as the main tool in the fight against the second wave of COVID-19

The health strategy consists of vaccinate as quickly as possible in April and May, so that when winter sets in in Argentina, the cases that exist fall on people who have less risk of life. The second wave of coronavirus has already arrived and infections will multiply despite official measures.

What the government is trying to do with the decisions of the last few days is to slow the growth of the contagion curve and try to reduce it.. Cushion the impact. To do this, it suspended flights from Brazil, Mexico and Chile, implemented new tests, implemented stricter quarantine controls for travelers and recommended that provincial governments restrict night traffic according to two parameters created by the Ministry of Health.

At Casa Rosada, they will wait until Easter to assess other measures that reduce the increase in infections and draw a new health roadmap on the scene that exists within six days. The pandemic is also dynamic and official decisions. They depend on the variation of the context, the capacity of response of the health system and the speed of circulation of the virus.

The possible account they tell the ruling party is that vaccines are the most effective tool they have to deal with the second wave. Because? Because, until now, the political decision not to put in place a strict quarantine like that experienced by Argentines in the first half of 2020 remains firm, nor to slow down economic activity, which would generate less movement of people and, hence, from the virus. Faced with this scenario, the scope for action is small.

In recent days, the management of Alberto Fernández has managed to clarify the arrival of 1,418,000 doses between Sputnik V and Astrazeneca vaccines. Thursday will arrive a million doses Chinese vaccine developed by Sinopharm and a new container from Russia.

In addition, in April, 2 million doses are due to arrive from China, according to the contract signed with this country, and 580,000 Astrazecena vaccines manufactured in India. To this package you must add the shipments agreed with Astrazeneca in the contract which is approximately 4,500,000 doses for the month of April. Scheduled doses but without a precise date of arrival.

In two weeks, the party in power will have managed to have around 2,500,000 doses. Since the vaccination plan began in December, she has never been able to get so many vaccinations in such a short time. So far, in two months of vaccination, nearly 5 million doses have been applied. The account is simple. During the month of April, the government will be able to give more pace and volume to the operation.

With this package of doses, which are distributed to the provinces as and when they arrive and which take, between controls and logistics, about four days to begin to be applied, the government aspires to make a quantitative leap in the vaccination operation. The real key to dealing with the second wave of COVID-19.

The operation will quickly take on another volume and will be of vital importance in bringing down the rate of hospitalization and death. Vaccination of the elderly is explained because not only are they most at risk, but in the face of a new wave, having them vaccinated will reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths. Therefore, the health care system is not at risk of collapsing.

However, these are projections that are made within the government for the middle of the year. The next two months could be difficult because, unlike 2020, in hospitals and clinics there are more beds occupied by patients who do not have COVID-19. People victims of traffic accidents or operations in progress have been carried out, to give two examples. At the same time, the boxes are rising at an unusual speed.

From each shipment of vaccine that arrives in the country, the Province of Buenos Aires keeps the 40%. The distribution is adapted to the population of each district. In Axel Kicillof’s government, they aim to ensure that everyone over 60 is vaccinated before the start of May.

So far, as explained in La Plata at Infobae, 70% of those over 80 are already vaccinated, while in the case of over 70s the vaccinated reach 30%. It is this group that they hope to move forward quickly in the coming days with the vaccines the national government has already received.

The government of Buenos Aires has the capacity to vaccinate, at most, 100,000 people a day. The daily average will be less than this number, but the best possible vaccine scenario is around this number. To advance in vaccination, vaccines were lacking. This will not be a problem in the coming month.

In the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, the situation is similar. With all the doses arrived in recent days and will arrive before the weekend, they estimate that the vaccination of over 70s will be closed in the coming weeks. They are close to 250,000 people. On the soil of Buenos Aires, they have the capacity to vaccinate 25,000 people a day and they represent 7% of every shipment that arrives in the country.

The largest number of people living in Argentina is concentrated between the province and the city of Buenos Aires. The pace that the two governments can exercise in the vaccination operation will be decisive in protecting the greatest number of people in the groups at risk.

At the Ministry of Health headed by Carla Vizzotti They hope that during the month of April it will be possible to vaccinate 4,000,000 of people. Most of them are over 60 years old, totaling 7,414,866 nationwide. It is an operational challenge that they will meet against the clock and which will mark the start of the new minister’s mandate.

With the health policy decision to vaccinate in a single dose, as part of an emergency plan, the government will be able to accelerate the vaccination rate because it will have the necessary doses. The three vaccines used in Argentina – Sputnik V, Sinopharm and Astrazeneca – are approved by ANMAT for use in people over 60 years of age. What is now at stake is the operational and logistical capacity of each district.

For the health strategy to achieve the effect that the government intends, It is essential that a smooth rhythm is maintained when vaccines arrive. This rhythm which was reached last week and which will continue in the coming days. The chain does not need to be cut.

In parallel, much of the official effort will continue to be ported as a symbol of alarm and awareness. Since the government intervened last Thursday, overseas travel has been drastically curtailed and people have abandoned many Easter bookings. The immediate effect was achieved. This path will deepen after Easter Sunday.

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