Uruguay has started vaccinating its population with a third booster dose

Despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) asked not to apply a third dose until countries are lagging behind immunize higher percentages of the population, Uruguay has started administration of third Pfizer vaccine. The country stood out in Latin America for its strong vaccination campaign against COVID-19.

In Uruguay, news about the third candidacy It occurs at times when sports shows with the public and parties in closed spaces have been authorized. The high vaccination rate gives the government leeway, but there are caveats about such a quick opening.

“From what I’ve read, the antibodies with CoronaVac are dropping a lot,” says Mónica Camarano, an accountant from Montevideo who will receive a booster from Pfizer next Monday. “The third dose protects”, she adds convinced after having consulted several specialized sites.

“The third dose is a way to be protectedSandra Alonso said in turn at the door of the Atlántida vaccination center, Canelones. She is one of the 800,000 people who signed up for an extra dose. “With the first two, I felt calm. I work in commerce and vaccines are the only thing we need to protect ourselves and they have worked”.

For his part, Dr María Moreno, member of the Uruguayan Advisory Committee for Immunization, believes that “it is likely that over time the effectiveness of CoronaVac will be somewhat reduced, but this does not necessarily have to reduce the serious or serious illnesses. It is possible that it is further reduced at the level of community transmission ”.

Uruguay has gone from being one of the countries with the most deaths per million population between April and June to now the second that applied the most vaccines to its population. —After the United Arab Emirates— As of August 13, according to the follow-up of Our World in Data at the University of Oxford, with 144 doses per 100 inhabitants. Cases have declined dramatically, recording 17 deaths last week, especially among the unvaccinated population.

Follow it Chile with 139 doses per 100 inhabitants. Both countries have administered CoronaVac – inactivated virus – to their populations and are strengthening with AstraZeneca O Pfizer – Messenger RNA. The two nations calculate less than 2% positive in tests, according to Our World in Data.

In Chile, vaccination with the third dose began on August 11 and Uruguay started it on Monday, giving the booster to more than 30,000 people. Their governments understand that immunogenicity, that is, the ability of the antigen to create an immune response, decreases over time, and that “neutralizing antibodies decrease with a half-life of about 100 days. “, explains a document from the Ministry of Health. Vaccinations from the Chilean Ministry of Public Health dated August 5.

The Uruguayan National Advisory Commission on Immunization also intends to “optimize the immune response” in populations at risk, “increase the overall immunity of the population by standardizing the use of the messenger RNA platform” and “Strengthen the immunity” of the population against the Delta variant which entered by Uruguayan tourists.

Mobility in Uruguay is only 7% lower than at the start of the pandemic and last Friday there were only 90 new cases, while 1,431 were infected. At the height of the epidemic, they reached more than 25,000 infected people daily. Since the first cases, 6,000 people have died, which has positioned the coronavirus as the leading cause of death in the country during the first half of 2020.

Julio Pontet, president of the Uruguayan Society of Intensive Medicine, told the agency PA that it currently exists 40 people hospitalized for COVID and of these 25 are in intensive care.

The situation is the most comfortable since the start of the vaccination, so last week the government allowed parties from August 24 for 200 people in closed spaces with vaccination and up to 300 in open spaces, while for non-immune individuals, between 100 and 150 respectively will be allowed. From November, entry of vaccinated foreign tourists who should not be quarantined will be allowed.

The club Peñarol the football team will receive this Wednesday Sports crystal in Montevideo with 5,000 people in the stands. The capacity of public shows has increased from a third to 66% with the control of vaccinations. “We are moving towards the establishment of the cessation of the health emergency,” said the president Luis Lacalle Pou last week to celebrate that 65% of the population was immunized with two doses. The optimism of the government seems to be based on the fact that almost 7 out of 10 have two doses, in addition to the fact that 10% of its people have become immune after getting the infection.

Last week, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 1.2 million cases were recorded in the American hemisphere and 20,000 deaths.

(With AP information)

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