The title that could rank the highest in Google searches for this news article could be: “Increase in COVID Cases Prompts Urgent Call for Vaccination Review and Boosters in Argentina”

It is important to complete the vaccination schedules and have at least one bivalent vaccine applied (Illustrative Image Infobae)

The number of people affected by COVID continues to grow. As indicated by the Argentine Ministry of Health, in the recent Epidemiological Bulletin, “in the last 2 epidemiological weeks (of 2023) there has been an increase in the number of cases.” This situation, which is recorded throughout the country, had its first fatality in Salta in 2024, as confirmed by the provincial health authorities.

The General Director of Epidemiological Coordination of Salta, Dr. Francisco García Campos explained to Infobae: “We were surprised by the increase in cases. We had 89 in a single week. Since February 2023 we had between 20 to 30 cases per week, according to our Epidemiological Bulletin that we continue to prepare weekly.”

“We found the increase in the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater striking, which usually correlates with the increase in cases, it is an environmental indicator,” said García Campos. And he added: “We are currently waiting for the evolution of the JN.1 variant, which is the one that is circulating. There is no increase in respiratory diseases, but the scenario is complicated because we have to differentiate well whether it is COVID or dengue when a patient reports fever.”

The person who died is a 40-year-old man. “He had 4 doses of the vaccine and underlying diseases. He entered the hospital in an advanced state of the respiratory process and died a few hours later,” said García Campos, who confirmed that there are currently 7 patients hospitalized in Salta.

End-of-year gatherings and holidays increased the risk of COVID-19 transmission and increased cases, experts said (iStock)

Faced with this situation, the expert announced: “We are going to increase vaccination coverage; review schemes in the entire population, which at least have a bivalent vaccine applied; We are going to increase the offer of vaccination and rapid nasopharyngeal swab testing. The UMA service, the outpatient monitoring unit, which was working throughout the year at the Señor del Milagro Hospital, Salta, continues to operate.”

As can be seen from the latest Epidemiological Bulletin, the lack of vaccination warned by García Campos is evident at the national level. “As of 01/02/2024, there are 10,526,499 people aged 50 and over who have not received a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine for more than 6 months,” the document states. At the same time, he describes this situation as “worrying, given that it is the population at highest risk of suffering from serious illness.”

The truth is that, in addition to Salta, there is an increase in the number of cases in the NOA. An example is Jujuy, which registers 711 affected people, as reported on Tuesday by the province’s Ministry of Health. Likewise, they clarified that only two people are hospitalized.

The variant that circulates in the world today, JN.1, a subvariant of Omicron, and gives a milder clinical picture: nasal congestion, cough, fever, sneezing, and rarely generates complications (Illustrative Image Infobae)

The infectious disease doctor Pablo Bonvehí, head of the Infectology and Infection Control section of the CEMIC, in dialogue with Infobae, referred to the rise in infections and highlighted that the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to circulate in the world, linked to the appearance of new variants that are capable of better evading the immune response, whether generated by vaccines or previous infections.

Regarding the case of the deceased in Salta, he expressed that he had no data, “but we would have to see if he had risk conditions. As the number of cases increases, a person who has many comorbidities or risk factors may have an eventual fatal outcome. “It would be rare, but not impossible, also in healthy people.”

“The variant that we now have circulating in the world, JN.1, is a subvariant of Ómicron. We know that it gives a milder clinical picture, especially nasal congestion, cough, fever, sneezing, and that it rarely causes complications. The few people who are hospitalized have risk factors, they are very old, with immunosuppression, among others,” he stated.

In a recent note in Infobae, Dr. Ricardo Teijeiro (MN 58065), infectologist at the Pirovano Hospital and member of the Argentine Society of Infectology (SADI), expressed: “There is an increase in cases. For now, we see that the usual variants are circulating, but with a significant and quite important increase for this time of year in cases that are not serious. It is expected that, come autumn and winter, we will have greater circulation and that the variants that are in the northern hemisphere will also begin to circulate.”

SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate globally with new variants that challenge immunity. The JN.1 subvariant is currently circulating (Getty Images)

Likewise, infectologist Elena Obieta (MN 76451), head of the communicable and emerging diseases service of the Municipality of San Isidro and member of the Argentine Society of Infectology (SADI), told Infobae that there is “a sustained increase in cases, Just like other years, after the end-of-year gatherings, crowds and beach parties, to give a few examples.”

“We began to have an increase and it is seen in the office, the guards and in a lot of people who are suffering from a condition that they consider to be a cold, an allergy and a little cough, who in the worst case scenario self-medicate , and it turned out it was COVID,” the expert continued. And she added: “This situation can put a bit of strain on the health system, especially in the outpatient clinic, since we may also have overlap with a greater number of dengue cases. These two pathologies can put a little strain on the system.”

The truth is that in the document issued by the health portfolio, the situation of more than 10 million people aged 50 and older who have not received a booster dose for more than 6 months is classified as “worrying”, because they are the population with “highest risk of suffering serious illness.”

In a recent Infobae note, it was noted that “in the week of December 18, 2023, 84 daily confirmed cases were recorded, according to the date of onset of symptoms as a weekly average. Two weeks later (December 1), 212 daily confirmed cases were reported. That is, there was an increase of 152% in daily cases considering the weekly average.”

In Argentina, the curve of cases of people with a positive diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 has risen again since the second half of December. Completing the vaccination schedule is essential

In this situation, vaccination is essential. It is for this reason that the health portfolio, through this document, highlighted that “as of 01/02/2024, the total coverage of the country with the first dose is 93.6%, with low coverage in children under 3 years of age and 100%. in people over 50 years of age”, while “the total coverage of the complete primary regimen (two doses or a single dose as appropriate) is 82.4%, being 91% in people over 18 years of age.”

In that tone, they indicated that “the total population that received the first booster is 49.6%, with around 75% being those over 50 years of age. As for the second reinforcement, the population over 50 years of age has coverage greater than 40% and close to 45% when those over 60 years of age are considered.” However, they warned about the drop in the vaccination rate that is registered when the boosters are analyzed.

“It is very important to point out and remember the current vaccination guidelines, which indicate that every person over 50 years of age, regardless of whether they are healthy and more than six months have passed after vaccination, must receive a booster. The same as people with immunosuppression of any age from six months of age, a booster should also be given if the last dose was received after six months, the same as pregnant women. Health personnel must also be vaccinated if they received a dose beyond six months,” Bonvehí assured.

And he concluded: “The current concept of COVID vaccination booster has nothing to do with the number of previous doses, because it is very common to hear that ‘they say I have five doses, I have six doses.’ What matters now is knowing when the last dose was; if a long time has passed, the vaccine is less likely to protect against severe forms. So going back to the beginning of what I was saying, it is very likely that as cases increase, we will begin to see some complications with hospitalization, as we are already seeing, and eventual mortality of patients with risk factors.”

2024-01-19 00:15:00
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