A study by the Ministry of Health published in the British scientific journal The Lancet confirmed the effectiveness of over 80% of the AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Sinopharm vaccines in preventing death from coronavirus in people over 60 years of age.
This is the study “Evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines in the real world” led by the National Director of Epidemiology and Strategic Information of the Nation, Analía Rearte, who analyzed the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines applied in Argentina.
The research was carried out between January and September 2021, and both the effectiveness in preventing infections and death from coronavirus in people over 60 years of age were observed.
“The data is excellent,” celebrated the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, in a Twitter thread in the last few hours, in which she explained the results of the study.
In this way, the solidity of the data that allowed us, almost a year ago, to make one of the most difficult and important health decisions of the pandemic in our country is evidenced: deferring second doses to reach the greatest number of people with the first . pic.twitter.com/WugB8AszSi
– Carla Vizzotti (@carlavizzotti) March 17, 2022
In this sense, the research determined that the effectiveness in preventing deaths after the two doses of any of the vaccines was greater than 85% (93.1% with Sputnik V; 93.7% with AstraZeneca and 85% with Sinopharm).
Meanwhile, with a single dose, the effectiveness in preventing death was greater than 80% in people between 60 and 79 years old, and remained stable over time, up to more than three months after the dose was applied.
“In this way, the solidity of the data that allowed us, almost a year ago, to make one of the most difficult and important health decisions of the pandemic in our country is evidenced: deferring second doses to reach the largest number of people with the disease. first,” said Vizzotti, while acknowledging the work of the ministry and the health workers.
“Each and every one of them and they had a key role in these two years,” he said.
“This study was possible due to the robustness of the data that Argentina has, and that is an enormous job for many health teams, mainly epidemiological teams that have been working for years so that the surveillance system has quality data”Analia Rearte
Consulted by the work, Rearte told Télam that “first of all, we must highlight the importance of generating local evidence; this allows us to make decisions that are more appropriate to our reality, which is essential in a pandemic.”
The official maintained that this study “could be done due to the robustness of the data that Argentina has, and that is an enormous job by many health teams, mainly epidemiological teams that have been working for years so that the surveillance system has quality data” .
“Secondly, Argentina has made important and disruptive health decisions at times of great difficulty in access to vaccines, and being able to demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures is very important (in relation to the decision to defer the second dose),” he indicated. .
Argentina has made important and disruptive health decisions at times of great difficulty in access to vaccinesAnalia Rearte
Rearte recalled that “it is not the first time that Argentina has generated evidence that changes, for example, recommendations from the World Health Organization.”
“As background we have the case of the application of a dose of the Hepatitis A vaccine. Argentina was the first country in the world to apply this strategy, responding to the local epidemiological situation, and with the evidence generated by the country, the WHO changed its recommendations and it is currently a strategy used by many countries,” he described.
And he continued: “Something similar happened with the application of the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough) vaccine in pregnant women to protect children under six months of pertussis, a decision also taken in response to a local epidemiological situation, with a significant increase in mortality in this age group. At that time, Argentina also generated evidence that served to show the effectiveness of this strategy.”
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