For almost two years, as a result of the explosion of the pandemic in which we are still immersed, vaccines occupy the center of the scene. But while attention is monopolized by the strategy to reduce the impact of the coronavirus, Argentina’s national calendar adds a new modification that parents should not ignore: from this month, a second dose of the chickenpox vaccine to 5 year old boys and girls.
The decision made by the Ministry of Health in consensus with the National Immunization Commission and the jurisdictions was announced in december and since this week it began to be implemented in public vaccinations throughout the country. This new dose is necessary to complete the scheme started at 15 months of age.
The varicella vaccine was incorporated into the national vaccination schedule (CNV) in 2015, with the aim of control disease caused by varicella zoster virus (VVZ), that is, to reduce hospitalization, morbidity and mortality caused by the infection.
Who should get the second dose of chickenpox vaccine?
All boys and girls over 5 years of age who were born after 2013 they will need to receive the second dose to complete the schedule. If the first one has not been administered, they should start it, respecting a minimum interval of one month between both doses.
The varicella vaccination schedule will be considered complete with the application of doses of varicella vaccine. at 15 months and 5 years, which can be managed jointly or deferred with the rest of the vaccines on the calendar corresponding to those ages, the Ministry specified.
“The addition of the second dose is a strategy that seeks to control the disease to reduce morbidity and mortality from chickenpox and its complications, and avoid breakouts in vaccinated populations “, highlighted the infectologist Adriana Parra, head of the Garrahan Hospital Vaccination Center, in a statement issued by the institution to encourage the population to complete the scheme.
Both doses can be applied jointly or delayed with the other vaccines corresponding to those ages. Photo Ministry of Health.
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What is chickenpox?
Chickenpox is one of the exanthematic diseases (causing a skin rash) more frequent from childhood.
“Although it is usually considered a benign childhood disease, its evolution in children is not exempt from possible complications and it can have a complicated and / or serious evolution when affecting other susceptible populations of ‘high risk’ such as adults, pregnant women, immunosuppressed people or with certain underlying diseases “, explain the health authorities.
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In Argentina, before the vaccine was introduced into the CNV, some 400 thousand new cases each year and about 17 deaths annually, which mainly affected the population in the first decade of life, reports the Ministry of Health in the technical guidelines that guide the introduction of the second dose.
In fact, before the chickenpox vaccine was introduced at NVC, most children had the disease before the age of 5 or during school age.
In the first five years of vaccination implementation (2015-2019), there was a decrease greater than 50% in the incidence rate global disease.
Different countries in the region have already incorporated the second dose of chickenpox vaccine to their national calendars, including the United States, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Panama and Puerto Rico, according to the Ministry.
National Vaccination Calendar 2022.
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Increase coverage: not everything is covid
Another recent report from the Ministry of Health warns of the generalized fall in national vaccination coverage registered between 2009 and 2019. In that period, according to the document, there was a 10 point average decrease, especially in childhood vaccines.
The situation, which is also observed with concern by professionals and medical societies, got even worse since the start of the pandemic.
“In 2020, no CNV vaccine in any age group has exceeded 80% coverage at the national level. This implies a significant amount of the target population that has not been reached by immunization services and, therefore, a substantial increase in susceptible individuals that, accumulated with those susceptible from previous years, generate a scenario that predisposes and favors the appearance of breakouts, reemergence or reintroduction of vaccine-preventable diseases that are controlled or eliminated in our country, “says the document.
And he concludes that “it is essential and urgent to strengthen the actions, the commitment and the challenge of prioritizing and prioritizing the activities of regular vaccination and recovery of schemes.”
