Director of Immunizations Ministry of HealthMaría Elena Martínez, recalled the recent reduction to four months in the time to receive the fourth dose of vaccine against COVID-19 in Peru because the country is facing a fourth wave of this disease and the cases that reach hospitalization correspond, precisely, to older adults.
“We have considered pertinent, in addition to a revision of the National Institute of Health, of the Committee of Experts, because we had to care for and protect the elderly. With older adults, it has happened that sometimes they have forgotten their second and third doses and the period has been very long that they have gone and have been infected in this fourth wave, “he explained.
In interview with RPP News, the nursing graduate reported that from the date this new measure was applied to date -four days- nearly 27 older adults have already received the fourth dose nationwide. She added that last July 27 was the day of greatest influx of this population, with more than 8,178 people.
Martínez commented that the vast majority of older adults are vulnerable people due to having other diseases that could be aggravated in a possible case of COVID-19. For this reason, he reiterated the importance of this population being vaccinated on time and preventing the space between each dose from being too long.
“International studies have established for quite some time to have done it from 4 to 6 months (booster vaccine), but our country made the decision for the third dose at five months; however, when facing this fourth wave we have seen that the number of cases that are occurring are mostly older adults,” he said.
Finally, the attorney mentioned that the possible reactions after the application of the vaccine could be discomfort in the arm, possible fever or general malaise. However, she stressed that of the total of 80 million doses of vaccines applied in total that have been given nationwide, only mild reactions have been recorded in a “quite a minority” group.
Booster doses against COVID-19
On July 27, the Ministry of Health exhorted older adults to complete their third dose and after 4 months apply the fourth dose because it is the population with the highest mortality and highest risk of developing severe cases of the disease. COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Sometimes also authorized applying a third dose against the COVID-19 to the age group made up of children between 5 and 11 years of age because it has been shown that 3 doses are needed to protect against the omicron variant of the coronavirus
It should be remembered that the commitment of the Ministry of Health as of December of this year is to reach 80% of the population over 12 years of age with a third dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 and 80% of children aged 5 to 11 years vaccinated with a second dose.
To date, a total of 5,325,528 doses have been administered to this group of minors, reaching 70.4% of vaccination coverage in the first dose with 2,959,410 vaccines applied, and in the second dose, 56.3% has been reached with 2,366 118 of inoculated vaccines.
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The legislator said that there were economic interests behind the project approved by insistence in the plenary session of Parliament. On the other hand, legislator Alex Paredes, from the ruling Magisterial Block, justified his group’s support for the project’s insistence despite the fact that the government observed the law.
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