Infectious scientist Roberto Debbag warned that “we are now in the pandemic of the unvaccinated”

The vice-president of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectology, Roberto Debbag, warned today that he should “Have more than 70%” of the population vaccinated with the full COVID-19 regimen in each country to “be calm enough” as for the control of the pandemic, while in Argentina only 35.74% of people were reached with the complete diet, according to official data. If these levels are not reached, he noted, “New variants will be generated” thanks to the advance of the circulation. “Now we are facing the pandemic of the unvaccinated or vaccinated with a dose,” he said, because in some areas there is mistrust of inoculants, and in others, like Argentina, there is a “lack of stock”.

In addition, he called on the government tor “more proactive” in terms of vaccination and “even in the screening policy”. “The testing policy should not be abandoned,” he recommended., and clarified that “not just those who have symptoms, you have to go out and test, for example in communities where I want to know where there is someone asymptomatic, for example among the teachers at random, among the high school students at random, in factories at random “, he illustrated, in dialogue with María Laura Santillán on CNN’s La Mañana on CNN Radio.

“In other words, to control (the circulation of the virus) in communities where people work or have educational or social activities, actively test them whether or not they have symptoms. This is the way to stay one step ahead of the virus ”, he said, and it will allow “to face, if it circulates, with the variant Delta, which we all think that it could circulate in the weeks to come”.

Debbag explained that it is necessary for “70% or more of a country” to be fully vaccinated “to be relatively protected in what circulation means because if there is circulation of the virus, beyond people who are hospitalized or in pain disease, transmission itself produces the likelihood of new variants ” and this in turn will result in a “Virus forever, virus forever in circulation” in time.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus “may continue to circulate not only because there are 12 species of animals where the virus can be housed, but also because human transmission in countries where vaccines are not available will continue to exist. generate new variants, ”he explained. .

The specialist said he had “hope that in a few weeks or months in Argentina” the necessary level of full vaccination will be reached in order to be able to stop the circulation and prevent the virus from mutating, but admitted that the current “It’s not a good number to face a Delta variant in the coming weeks.”

According to the latest data from the Public Vaccination Monitor, there are 57,207,120 vaccines in the country, of which 44,731,271 have been applied. But with two doses, there are only 16,375,017 people (35.74%) and another 28,356,254 people have one (61.90%).

The doctor described the current situation as “The pandemic of the unvaccinated”, since “in the northern hemisphere, in the United States, the unvaccinated do not want to be vaccinated out of mistrust or political ideology, etc., and in the southern hemisphere, Latin America and the Caribbean, by not having access to vaccines. This is the pandemic of the unvaccinated or vaccinated with a dose, ”he said.

According to the specialist, Argentina is also far behind other countries in terms of genomic study of the virus. “The genomic study in Argentina it is 0.01% when in the world it is greater than 2% “ This implies that the genome of the virus is studied 20 to 40 times more in the world, “that is to say what variants are there”.

Debbag had already noticed that the pRoblema in Argentina is not mistrust in the vaccine, which according to our research is around 7% or 8%, the problem is not having the vaccines for the second doses or not being called”.

Two doses of one of the authorized emergency vaccines are the most effective way to ensure protection against SARS-CoV-2, although specialists are also trying to clarify that even if a person is fully vaccinated, this does not prevent him from contracting the virus. , although it is believed that the disease will arise in a milder way.

Recently, researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK revealed that the Delta variant of the coronavirus infects vaccinated people with the same viral load as those who are not.

According to a preliminary analysis of a study carried out by experts from this British house of higher studies, and which was published in the journal BMJ, Those infected with the Delta variant have similar levels of the virus to those who have not been vaccinated, which presents “a greater challenge” when it comes to gaining group immunity to the coronavirus.

In Argentina, the supercontagious Delta variant is still or is circulating in the community, but cases have been detected in several provinces. In Cordoba, 91 cases have been detected, including two fatalities. The source of the contagion was a traveler who violated quarantine and died. They even found remains of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the sewage. In Buenos Aires, the government reported 63 cases, 59 are international travelers, 2 associated with imports, 2 cases with no history. In Mendoza and Santa Fe, cases have also been detected.

The virologist Mario Lozano placeholder image, doctor in biochemical sciences and expert in molecular biology, had underlined in recent days that “we are facing the imminent community circulation of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Argentina. We still have time to slow down the speed of replacement of the other variants by the Delta variant. if, in addition to maintaining care policies, we support entry control and administrative segregation measures for travelers ”.

The specialist claimed that “Although the country has delayed its entry, community circulation of the Delta variant is already starting” and specified that “the the protection index calculated for Argentina is intermediate (34.2%), similar to that of Chile, Spain or the United States, when the circulation of the variant started in each territory ”.

KEEP READING