Despite massive vaccination, Chile still cannot contain contagions

SANTIAGO, Chile.– This is the great success of the government of Sebastien Piñera in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the data has therefore been generously replicated through all official channels, including the public account that the President made this week in Parliament.

“Chile is among the three countries in the world which have advanced the fastest in the process of mass vaccination”Piñera said, on the success of the national immunization program and the fact that it was achieved, in part, through the functioning of the primary care network, the early and diverse supply of vaccines and the precise conclusion of contracts with four drug producers: Pfizer, Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Cansino.

“We have successfully vaccinated more than 8 million people with the two doses, representing more than 53% of the target population of 15.2 million people”, Explained Piñera about the Chilean strategy which already accumulates 71.2% of the vaccinated with the first dose and which this week started the vaccination of people aged 25 to 23 years. In addition, the Chilean Institute of Public Health (ISP) has already authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 16 years.

“We have vaccines for everyone”added the sovereign, in the middle of a paradoxical panorama for the country and whose contradiction is the big question under discussion these days. Despite excellent vaccination figures and rapid implementation, Chile is going through one of its most complex times today due to the number of people infected and the impending collapse of the health system, which is currently operating at the limit of its capacity.

Precisely this Wednesday, the Chilean Ministry of Health (Minsal) reported 5,631 new Covid-19 infections and 41 deaths in the last 24 hours. The national positivity reached 11.87% and the occupancy of critical beds 97%. This implies that in the Integrated Health Network ready to welcome infected people, there are barely a total of 146 critical beds available for the patient who needs it, regardless of the region in which he is located.

The negative scenario led representatives of health unions to criticize the authorities for the problems of traceability and flexibility of movement restrictions, reflected by measures such as mobility card, a document that frees its bearer from certain movement restrictions imposed in the quarantined municipalities.

For this reason, the main Chilean media presented several issues in the midst of the critical panorama of health centers. Why aren’t cases going down if more than half the country has been vaccinated? Are the effects of the lower efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine compared to that of Pfizer?

For Christian García, epidemiologist and public health expert at the University of Santiago (Usach), the current figures respond to the fact that there is a large part of the population “who still have no immunity”.

“It all depends on the number of people who are still likely to be infected, because despite the fact that we have 50% vaccinated, this figure points to an objective population which are all those who can receive the vaccine, but for another part as well. . there is a group that cannot receive it and it is the under 18s», Declared the academic to LA NACION.

The Chinese Sinovac vaccine, used in 90% of inoculations (the rest was with Pfizer and to a lesser extent with AstraZeneca), was authorized this week by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite the positive evaluation of the drug, also doubts have arisen as to its impact in preventing contagion because, although 80% effective in preventing death, the serum shows 56.5% effectiveness in preventing infections,

“The vaccine has shown that it is effective in reducing severe cases and deaths, but not to reduce transmission like the Pfizer. Keep getting vaccinated and achieve the greatest possible coverage at all ages, as the vaccine alone will not do everything, but it is important to continue to take preventive measures, isolate positive cases and their close contacts. Traceability is extremely important and this has been one of the failures in the management of the pandemic, ”added the epidemiologist.

Authorities have insisted on getting vaccinated beyond the type of vaccine and have released data in this regard. One of them is that People not yet vaccinated are three times more likely to be infected and 10 times more likely to achieve intensive treatment than people already vaccinated.

“The large number of the population who have been infected so far are people who have not yet been vaccinated because they are young or have received a single dose of Sinovac. What we have detected is that the elderly and the chronically ill have reduced their presence in hospitals and in intensive therapy, ”underlined infectologist Jaime Labarca, from the Catholic University.