The National Academy of Medicine noted that vaccine coverage against polio in Venezuela is 61% according to Unicef and the WHO recommends vaccine coverage greater than 95%. The Venezuelan Society of Childcare and Pediatrics states that in the country there is a population vulnerable to presenting vaccine-preventable diseases.
Academics and professionals in children’s medicine called on the population to remain calm after a case of polio was reported in the country in recent days and affirmed that the patient’s disease is under control. However, they asked the community to be “alert” and urged the State to expand vaccination plans.
The National Academy of Medicine (ANM) indicated in a statement that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) confirmed in Venezuela, a case of polio virus type 3, derived from a vaccine mutation that is different from so-called wild or natural polio.
«It is a case of mutation of the Polio 3 virus from the bOPV vaccine, which is described in the literature. You should not panic due to false alarms. It is a case studied, controlled and in recovery (…) The ANM calls on the community in general to be alert, to remain calm and to stay informed on reliable pages to avoid misinformation,” the statement stated.
The Academy recalled that in 1994 the region of the Americas was the first in the world to be certified as polio-free by the World Health Organization. “The WHO made the recommendation to add the new inactive technology vaccine, which is injected, to the oral polio vaccine, and our country uses the two types of vaccines in a total of five doses in the transition stage,” he noted.
He also noted that Vaccination coverage against polio in Venezuela is at 61% according to Unicef (2023) and the WHO recommends vaccine coverage greater than 95%. The case reported by the WHO/PAHO is derived from the mutation of the oral vaccine “and it is estimated that there may be one case for every 750 thousand doses administered. However, the oral vaccine is safe and should be administered together with the injected vaccine,” recommends the WHO.
The Academy made a new call to the Ministry of Health “to urgently increase vaccination coverage of all vaccines included in the EPI, especially those of the polio vaccine, since Venezuela is at high risk” of a reintroduction of polio due to low vaccination coverage. In May 2022 had requested the administration of Nicolás Maduro to increase vaccination coverage in all areas and specifically the drugs used against polio.
For its part, the Venezuelan Society of Childcare and Pediatrics joined the call to the Ministry of Health of urgently launch vaccination coverage of all vaccines that are part of the Expanded Program on Immunizations (EPI) in order to avoid the unfortunate reappearance of vaccine-preventable diseases.
«It is vitally important that the child population and the general population have up-to-date Vaccine Certificates. It is also urgent to reduce the cases of ‘zero dose children’ that have increased in the Americas and in Venezuela particularly. This means that we have a population vulnerable to presenting vaccine-preventable diseases,” the union said in a statement.
The Venezuelan Society of Childcare and Pediatrics asked the governing health entities in the country to increase investment in prevention plans and resume “good immunization practices by acquiring vaccines in sufficient quantity, quality and all the vaccines offered in the EPI: pneumococcus 13V and 23V, rotavirus, quadrivalent meningococcus, quadrivalent seasonal influenza, including the debt with the HPV vaccine for more than a decade.
*Read also: NGO asks the Venezuelan State to guarantee the prison population access to mammograms
Post Views: 244
