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Yet, less than a week later, her parents, three daughters and an aunt were infected with the Delta variant. She and her husband were not spared. Soon they also felt bad. Almost everyone had mild symptoms, lasting 2-4 days, except their father and children.
“My father suffers from chronic leukemia; he had pneumonia, became dehydrated and was hospitalized. If he had not received his vaccines he would have died,” she said, referring to the vaccine. Covid-19.
Her children, however, were too young to be vaccinated and suffered greatly from the infection. “My daughters had a high fever, cough, vomiting and severe headache. I would have liked them to be vaccinated; I was constantly afraid for them, ”she said.
“We know that in countries where most of the adult population has been immunized, the coronavirus begins to target those who remain most vulnerable and children are more infected, as is happening in the United States,” explains Dr. Lorena Tapia, pediatrician and pediatrician. infectologist from the University of Chile and member of the advisory committee on vaccines for the Ministry of Science.
“We must move forward with the vaccination of the youngest.
An early strategy
Different elements explain Chile’s successful vaccination rate. Authorities began planning a response to the pandemic early on. In May 2020, two months after the country reported its first cases of Covid, the Science Ministry began negotiating contracts with various laboratories – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac (which makes the Coronavac) and CanSino – to secure the purchase of pictures for all Chileans.
At the same time, the institution worked to involve the local scientific community in phase 3 clinical trials, which would prioritize the country in vaccine supply. In the end, the trade deals were done quickly.
“From the start, our campaign was based on the advantages of having a diversified portfolio of vaccines,” explains Minister of Science Andrés Couve.
“This allowed us not to depend on the availability of a single supplier, given the high demand for anti-Covid doses around the world,” he adds.
This strategy, combined with a historically well-organized global immunization system, the establishment of 1,400 new immunization sites and a planning system easily accessible by eligible groups, has enabled the country’s immunization process to move forward with few interruptions.
It helps that Chile has a small population. And its relatively low debt and long-standing responsible fiscal policy also means enough funds to buy enough vaccines. The country’s political and economic stability has even attracted Chinese investment: Sinovac recently announced the opening of a vaccine factory near Santiago next year.
Chile has so far received 36 million doses for a population of 19 million, enough to have already started distributing boosters. Each week a new group of people become eligible for the recalls – this week the country is offering recalls for people aged 55 and over.
“It’s very easy to get vaccinated in Chile and people have been very responsible. The anti-vaccine movement is marginal,” said Eduardo Undurraga, a former researcher at the US CDC and current professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile.
Chileans have always relied on vaccination campaigns, and vaccine skepticism is not deeply rooted in the country. In fact, Chile eradicated smallpox 27 years earlier than the rest of the world and was the third country to control polio. Citizens’ confidence in vaccines has also drastically reduced childhood illnesses such as measles, mumps and rubella.
The results, published in early July, were reassuring: the study found that its effectiveness was around 66% for the prevention of Covid and around 90% for the prevention of hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units and death. However, this investigation was carried out before the first cases of Chileans infected with the Delta variant were reported in late June.
To remain vigilant
As Covid-19 numbers rise again in Central America and the Caribbean, last week Chile hit its lowest infection rate and number of active cases since March 2020.
The percentage of nasal and pharyngeal swabs with positive results stabilized at less than 1%, leading the government to gradually ease containment restrictions … somewhat. A 10 p.m. curfew that has been in place since last year, for example, has passed to midnight – enough to allow some Chileans to feel they are finally finding some freedom.
Immunologists and epidemiologists, however, insist on the need to remain vigilant. They are particularly concerned about the Delta variant, which has been in circulation for a few months now.
Since then, broad vaccination has played a key role in preventing a new outbreak, experts say, but it is not enough.
This is why the government has never completely lifted prevention measures, unlike other countries which have relaxed social distancing rules after experiencing a decrease in confirmed cases and then seen infections increase. Wearing a face mask is still enforced, as is social distancing in public places and schools. Borders are not fully open again and travelers still face significant restrictions.
These actions have allowed the Chileans to keep the Delta strain online so far. But with the Covid-19, uncertainty still reigns.
“We can’t say it’s under control,” says Dr Alexis Kalergis, director of the Millennium Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy in Santiago. “The pandemic is not over and if we are not careful we can have a new epidemic at any time.”
While it is prudent to attribute the drop in infection rates solely to the vaccination process, Kalergis said extending vaccination even further is the best way to avoid the emergence and spread of new strains.
A vaccine for children
Dr Catterina Ferreccio, epidemiologist who sits on the Covid-19 advisory committee of the Ministry of Health, explains the urgency: at this stage of the pandemic, she says, children are likely to become a reservoir of Covid-19, this which is risky for them and the rest of the community. There could be at some point, a new variant that beats its natural defenses.
Dr Lorena Tapia, the pediatrician, shares this concern. She also points out that in this country 52% of school-age children are overweight or obese, which increases their risk of serious illness and even death from Covid. There are also a significant number of children with respiratory illnesses.
“It may be true that most children will do well if they are infected, but several of them will not. And today, with the safety data that we manage, it’s is something we can prevent. “
Last Monday, Ferreccio attended the Covid-19 advisory committee meeting to assess the approval of the CoronaVac vaccine for children between 6 and 11 years old. She says the decision was made on the basis of reliable data provided by China, where more than 40 million children in this age group have been inoculated with CoronaVac, and on Chile’s long experience with this type of. vaccine.
“It is a well-known vaccine platform; we don’t experiment. It’s very safe, and we’ve seen that when children are protected, we are all protected from new strains, ”she said.
In addition, getting children back to school is an important public health measure in itself, she says.
“As a grandmother of 5 children, I saw how difficult it was for [children] stay home, and it gets worse in low-income families, ”says Ferreccio, the epidemiologist.
“We have seen the rates of domestic violence increase and it is hurting children enormously. For many children, school is a protection. Vaccinating them will allay the fears of parents, teachers and epidemiologists. We cannot wait any longer.”
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