As part of her trip to the Los Lagos Region, the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguilera, visited the Cesfam Varas Varas vaccination center, located in the Puerto Montt commune, where the minister urged the population objective to be inoculated with the bivalent vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and to maintain prevention measures, in the face of criticism for the slow pace of the process.
“We want to make a very intensive call to people to get vaccinated, to take advantage of this time in which, despite the fact that we have had a slight increase in cases, we have not had a large number of serious cases, but it is precisely because of vaccination and that people have to go get vaccinated,” said the highest health authority in the country.
Minister Aguilera said that during her visit, she reviewed the vaccination figures of hospital officials and observed that this figure is low in the region, which is why she called “health officials to go get the bivalent vaccine.” ”.
The head of Health highlighted the elderly population, which “have been very obedient in the sense of following the indications of the health authorities and that has allowed the impact that this disease has on them to be reduced, so they continue to his example”.
During the activity, the Secretary of State reaffirmed that “the pandemic has not ended and we have to learn to live with this virus”, and recalled that last October the country advanced to the Opening Phase, where “we have seen how, after Because of this, there are waves of cases, but fortunately, thanks to vaccination and the precautions that people take, it has not implied stress in hospitals and there has not been a very intensive increase in the use of beds, which is what interests us particularly. ”.
“It is very important that seeing what is happening in the northern hemisphere, and particularly in China, we decided to extend the health alert to have all the tools at hand in case we have to, for example, change the phase in which we are , something that for now we do not see ”, added the head of Health.
At the local level, Dr. Aguilera assured that “we are working with the Seremi to intensify the vaccination work and, likewise, with the director of the Reloncaví Health Service, we are all very concerned that we can effectively gain time for preparation of any eventuality that happens with the pandemic ”.
Head of Epidemiology calls for maintaining self-care measures
The head of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health, Christian García, took stock of the evolution of the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, in which he explained that “in the last seven days there has been a decrease in cases of the 15%, however, in the previous weeks we were observing a slight increase in cases ”.
Despite this figure, Dr. García emphasized that “this disease is difficult to predict and infections can increase and decrease successively, so it is essential to maintain self-care measures and that the entire population have their vaccination schedule up to date.” ”.
In this line, he stressed that it is very important that we all continue to take care of ourselves, we must maintain permanent ventilation in closed spaces, prioritize outdoor activities and not stop frequent hand washing. He also recalled that the use of a mask is mandatory for users who go to a health center with patient care, and that this protection measure continues to be recommended for people with respiratory symptoms, or who go to long-term centers, places of high agglomeration and in public or private collective transport.
“It is essential that people who present symptoms related to the disease wear a mask and are tested in a timely manner to confirm or rule out the diagnosis,” recalled the head of Epidemiology, who added that testing is the way in which a person can quickly isolate themselves if is infected and, thus, cut the chain of transmission.
world situation
The expert from the Ministry of Health pointed out that there is currently uncertainty in the epidemiological scenario both globally and in Chile, due to the significant increase in serious cases that has occurred in China in recent days and weeks.
Regarding the global epidemiological scenario, García explained that “this phenomenon is produced mainly by the subvariants of Ómicron BF.7 and BA5.2, in a context of a population with little previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and with relatively low levels of booster vaccination in the general population.
In this context, the head of Epidemiology highlighted that Chile is one of the countries with the highest booster vaccination coverage, with more than 93% in the third dose and more than 82% in the fourth dose in people over 18 years of age, which It has allowed Chile to maintain a low health impact, that is, low hospitalization occupancy numbers but also very low ICU bed occupancy compared to previous periods of the pandemic. However, he recalled that the authorities are alert and continue to implement measures to reduce risks. Within these measures is the extension of the Health Alert for Covid-19 until March 31, and some requirements for travelers who have been in China for the last 7 days.
In addition, he reiterated the call for the people to whom it corresponds to be vaccinated with the bivalent dose, which protects against different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and recalled that vaccination with booster doses is still in force for all those people who are due to receive a new dose.
“Evidence has shown us that the protection provided by the second booster or fourth dose remains high even beyond 6 months, so it is extremely important to complete the vaccination program that corresponds to us to be safe,” García concluded. .
