Luis Escobar / La Paz
60% of the people who received the first dose of the anticovid vaccine from January 3 to 16 -the days of validity of the presentation of the vaccination card to enter public and private spaces- no longer went to receive the second component despite because they have already fulfilled the 21 days of the scheduled time.
This situation occurs after the Government suspended this measure due to pressure from anti-vaccines and other sectors. Expert fears that people do not have a good level of immunity to face covid.
Between January 3 and 16, 745 thousand people received the first dose of the covid vaccine. After 21 days, between January 24 and February 6, of this group, only 290,000 received their second component. In other words, six out of 10 people no longer went to the vaccination points.
December was the month with the fewest people vaccinated with the first dose. Every day 20,000 were immunized nationwide. Given this situation, the Government approved two decrees that required the presentation of the immunization card to enter public and private institutions. The last days of the year 2021, people turned to the vaccination points. On average, per day, 40,000 people received the first dose.
On Monday, January 3, in full force of the decrees, the figure climbed to 96,000 immunized. Thousands of citizens – who had to carry out financial transactions, collect their rents and other procedures – turned to the vaccination points.
At the same time, anti-vaccine protests broke out. They marched from the city of El Alto to La Paz. They blocked entry to the K’ara K’ara landfill in Cochabamba and staged demonstrations in Santa Cruz.
On January 6, the government suspended the measure for 20 days, but demonstrations by anti-vaccine groups persisted with roadblocks and marches. On January 19, the Government took a step back and withdrew the requirement to present the vaccination card.
As of that date, the levels of vaccination decreased even more and the application of the second component also. For example, of the 96,000 people who were immunized on January 6, only 28,000 received the second dose 21 days later.
Guillermo Cuentas, a former minister, described the Government’s measure as “foolish.” He commented -for example- that in other countries it is an essential requirement and there is even a fine of 300 euros for those who do not get vaccinated. “The consequence of not completing the scheme is that, in a few weeks, your antibodies will go down, your immunity will go down,” he said.
The professional explained that citizens who have the first vaccine will not have a sufficient amount of antibodies to respond better to any covid infection. “If they didn’t get vaccinated at 21 days, then within two to three months, the immunity they had from the first dose will wane until it’s gone,” he said.
He explained that people who do not complete the scheme will have the same possibility of contracting a complicated clinical picture. “Hopefully we can overcome the pandemic and achieve herd immunity,” she said.
According to the provisions of the Departmental Health Service (Headquarters) La Paz, for example, people can get the second dose up to a week after the 21 days are up when it comes to the Sinopharm vaccine.
Headquarters fear rise in cases with BA.2
The professional explained that at the end of February La Paz will be in de-escalation. “Probably, the attack rate in the department will be below 10%. If this was the behavior, we could have Carnival activities with some restriction measures”, he stated.
But, Aparicio warned that “everything can change” in the event that a new variant with greater contagion capacity appears, such as BA.2. “The omicron generated a sub-variant that is causing contagion outbreaks in some countries that decided to withdraw some restrictions,” he said.
“In the event that this variant enters the country, we will probably have an escalation by the end of February,” explained the director of the Sedes de La Paz.
