Given the death of four people in the tropical region of the Government headquarters due to yellow fever, the director of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), Max Enríquez, announced that it is expected intensify the vaccination campaign.
Five cases have been reported since March.for which, in past weeks, the Sedes La Paz issued the health alert. Four died and the fifth patient has already been discharged, according to a bulletin from the Headquarters of that department.
Enríquez said that this campaign would apply to people between 18 and 55 years of age who frequently move to that region in search of work.
“What is being established with the program in coordination with the Departmental Headquarters, is a massive campaign that we are going to intensify in some populations, especially between 18 and 55 years old, which is an active population that is going to these areas to work” , announced on Friday night in an interview with the Bolivisión network that was reproduced by ABI.
He explained that for this purpose Vaccination points will be installed at the Minasa terminal and the vaccination card against that disease will be required.
According to Headquarters, Miguel Ángel Quispe, head of the Epidemiology Unit of that institution in La Paz, stated that this vaccine is administered to all children when they reach their first year of life, but that there is the 10% that was not immunized. On the other hand, he stated that the vaccine is 100% effective, and that any person who did not receive it or does not remember having obtained it, should be immunized at least 10 days before entering endemic municipalities.
The person in charge of Epidemiology of La Paz, explained that the municipalities in which one case per year is normally reported, are Caranavi, Palos Blancos, Teoponte, Guanay, Mapiri and La Asunta.
“These are areas that are at risk of this disease because the vector is there.a mosquito that spreads the disease”, he explained.
Yellow fever is a virulent disease with a high mortality rate: of all the cases that are registered, 60% die. It has no treatment and the only way to avoid it is through the vaccine, which is completely free and is available at health centers and authorized points”, indicates an institutional bulletin.