Chile turns the page on second wave of coronavirus with benefits for those vaccinated

It sounds like a miracle, but it’s science. “We said it,” repeat immunization officials from Chile’s health ministry. The truth is that, as if by magic, when the country has reached 70% of the target population vaccinated – a universe of 15.8 million people – new cases reported have started to drop.

Today 2,336 new confirmed cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, with a positivity of 3.3%. This means that out of 100 people who had the PCR test, only three were found to be carriers of the virus.

Chile vaccinated since December of last year. On December 24, the first Pfizer vaccines arrived in Chile, which already exceed 6 million in total, but most of those vaccinated did so with the Chinese vaccine from the Sinovac laboratory. These two platforms are joined by Cansino, which is a single dose, and Oxford Astra-Zeneca.

The efficacy studies recently published in the “New England Journal of Medicine” for Sinovac, and corresponding to phase 4, ie the real world, are encouraging. Even if you show less effectiveness in preventing infections (65,9), has an efficiency of 87.5% to prevent hospitalization and 90.3% to prevent intensive care.

This is why the Chilean strategy was supposed to reach 80% of the populationn goal, something that has already been achieved, but with just one dose. There are a few hundred thousand left to complete the diagram.

In short, scientific societies consulted by Bugle, point out that since Sinovac is a vaccine that prevents infection less, “but at a very acceptable level”, the threshold to reach the protection levels was higher. And Chile seems to have succeeded.

The figures are exhaustive: in the last 14 days, new cases have been reduced by 40% and the decline curves in all parts of the country show steep slopes that coincide with the massive advance in immunization. Today they have 13,569 active cases, while a week ago the number reached 17,590.

The “pass” to freedom

Chile’s pandemic control history has been marked by closure and curfew. The country has a process of 5 phases of deconfinement and, after the winter and the arrival of the second wave, virtually the entire country was in total quarantine or on weekends (Phase 1 and 2).

But the government has announced the opening plan and the main protagonist is the mobility pass. The pass is a digital certificate which certifies the date of both doses via a QR code and which, if scanned, displays a green screen indicating “activated” or red, in case it is close contact with a person reported as infected.

How is the strategy? Basically, the government has defined capacity by phase. But the capacity is far off if one chooses the capacity for those vaccinated versus the capacity for the general public. An example: an event in Phase 3, where all participants have a mobility pass, can accommodate up to 1,000 people. But if the organizer chooses to do it for the general public, the maximum capacity is 200.

Yes indeed, the government transferred to commerce and organizers the incentive to check that all participants have their pass. Access control too. The fines for the infractions will be “substantial”, they assure the executive. The bet is that, since the trader or the organizer wants to sell more, he only admits people with fixed prices and that this generates a chain effect so that the latecomers complete their vaccination schedule.

Cinema, gyms, weddings or going to the stadium will be some of the activities that will gradually return to be part of the daily life of Chileans.

The “booster” or reinforcement, also called third doseIt is a fact beyond the Andes. Last Monday, Minister Enrique Paris underlined that “we will advance in the third dose. And it will surely be similar to Israel, ie we will start with the elderly with co-morbidities ”.

All this, understanding the latent threat posed by the Delta variant, which in Chile already has 14 confirmed cases. Despite the success of the vaccination, the health authorities have been less successful than in the past precisely because with Delta everything that is put forward can be reversed.

The Ministry of Health had been working in silence for several weeks on a pilot plan to assess the effectiveness of the reinforcement. It is carried out at the Central Post Office and registration is voluntary. There, different mechanisms are evaluated, as Rafael Araos, advisor to the vaccination plan in Chile, explains: “We are evaluating combined regimens and normal boosters. That is to say, We are evaluating putting Pfizer on those who have two doses of Sinovac and Sinovac on those on Pfizer ”.

These statements were made a month ago in an interview recorded for Journalism for all, but it was published for the purposes of this column.

In addition, President Sebastián Piñera pointed out the acquisition of Moderna and Sputnik vaccines, all to guarantee the third dose to the population of the country. Chile is currently immunizing minors with Pfizer. The calendar for adults is already full and only those who have not been intentionally not vaccinated remain.

PB