Julio Befani, infectious disease physician and epidemiologist, former director of Epidemiology of Santa Fe, gave his opinion on MDZ Radio about the health pass that the country evaluates implementing to encourage vaccination, mainly in the age group that includes youth and adults / youth.
Befani said that since the beginning of the quarantine, he maintains that “before applying a restriction or a release it is necessary to assess whether it can be controlled, otherwise, it does not make sense.”
“Are we going to control the 30 thousand people who go to a football stadium to confirm whether or not they have the two doses? How?” He asked rhetorically.
The infectologist confirmed that “we have the problem among the population between 17 and 39 years old.” In this age group there is the greatest shortage of vaccinated people. Therefore, for the doctor, the key is to “open the possibility that people have many positions of vaccination, stimulate and convince people. At the grape harvest festival – he exemplified – I put on a gazebo with a team of vaccination. Offer, offer and offer. “, He maintained.
Anyway, he said that he agrees with the health pass, “because we have no other way to demand that the population be vaccinated”, but acknowledged that without controls it will not make sense either. “I believe that this is a matter of individual conscience, we must be aware that it is the only way to end this. Most of the cases with the famous omicron strain are unvaccinated people.”
“If a person has the vaccines you will have less chance of serious illness and even death. We must be aware that the vaccine is a good for individual health but also for the general population, “he insisted.
Regarding the pandemic, he said that “this does not have an expiration date. It will depend first on whether we achieve a worldwide vaccination effective and in a large part of the population. Ómicron appeared in South Africa, where less than 10% of the population is vaccinated. “
Because, Befani predicted a bleak outlook Regarding the end of the pandemic: “I don’t know if this is going to end next year.” And about vaccines and the appearance of new strains, he opined that “it is most likely that 2 or 3 vaccines will remain in the drug market and the strains that appear, such as the influenza vaccine, will be incorporated than the one that was applied this year they have 3 different strains (the ones that appeared last winter in the northern hemisphere). I would think the same thing will happen with this vaccine. ”
Finally, the infectologist warned: “We are going to have to vaccinate every year because immunity declines after 6 months, that is proven.”
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