Huniades Urbina, vice president of the National Academy of Medicine, pointed out that the percentage of Venezuelans who have the three doses against covid-19 is 16%. This is because, in his opinion, few resources are allocated to the health sector in the country.
He assured that there has been no report of coronavirus vaccination for four weeks, which could mean a “very dangerous scenario”.
“People are letting their guard down, they don’t wear a mask, they don’t wash their hands, they go to concerts without biosecurity measures,” he said in statements reviewed by Contrapunto. And to that, it is added that not everyone has the full doses against covid-19.
With regard to monkeypox, he considered that it was necessary to have a small batch of vaccines in prevention mode.
“Vaccine coverage has been declining in the country, and although it should be between 90% and 95% of the population, the reality is that the country has been moving away from the figure. We have dropped to 45% on the DTP vaccine. Venezuela is the country in the region with the lowest coverage for poliomyelitis, with a coverage of just 50%,” said the specialist.
Urbina expressed his concern because “there is no benign disease.” In addition, he pointed out that in the national scheme there are around 14 vaccines. However, scientific societies recommend a total of 19, including hepatitis A, chickenpox, HPV, meningococcus, rotavirus, and pneumococcus.