Vaccination of minors recovers to pre-pandemic levels, says Ruy López Ridaura

Laura Poy Solano

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, August 24, 2024, p. 11

The Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Ruy López Ridaura, assured that vaccination coverage for children under five years of age We have already recovered it to when we started the six-year term, that is, we already have the same levelsafter the impact of the pandemic.

In an interview, after participating in the presentation of the results of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) 2020-2023, he acknowledged that the Universal Vaccination Program (PVU) must be strengthened, but according to official indicators, We are achieving coverage of more than 85 percent in almost all biologicals, and in some above 90 percent..

In presenting the results, Celia Alpuche, director of the Center for Research on Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Public Health, pointed out that the estimated vaccination coverage by biologicals and vaccination schedules in children one and two years of age, was in 2023 72.05 percent for measles, rubella and mumps; 84.79 for rotavirus; 84.96 for pneumococcal; 67.6 for human papillomavirus; 66.85 for hepatitis B, and 95.57 percent for tuberculosis.

Among the main findings, he highlighted that in the child population under five years of age, there is an increase in compliance with the complete vaccination schedule compared to what was achieved in 2022, although there are differences in vaccination coverage by type of biological in infants under five years of age. He indicated that a detailed and quantifiable situational analysis of the challenges that the PVU of Mexico is facing is required, in order to improve its efficiency.

In this regard, López Ridaura highlighted that the Ministry of Health has an estimate that It allows us to see the (vaccination) trajectory over time, but not the estimate of coverage.which is why he acknowledged that it is necessary to review the methodology.

Given the high incidence of dengue in Mexico, he stressed that there are no cases in Chalco, state of Mexico, due to the flooding of sewage, but outbreaks do continue very active in states such as Jalisco and Guerrero.

The federal official reiterated that there are no reports of cases of monkeypox (Mpox) with the new strain (1b). Regarding the use of a vaccine, he stressed that next week the technical advisory group will announce its specific recommendations.

And regarding the expiration of the drug Paxlovid, purchased from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, he said: It is an open discussion, because we are asking you to show us the data on its shelf life stability, so as not to destroy a medicine that may still be useful..