Normally the closings of the year are usually quiet. Except for the December traffic, after December 15 everyone starts to slow down to take a couple of days to enjoy family and reflect on what the year meant. There is no lack of review of the purposes and the renewed hope that 365 new opportunities represent.
Unfortunately, this end of the year is rather run over. Undoubtedly, the season started with great enthusiasm, because, unlike last year, many families planned to get together more calmly for the holidays. However, Covid-19 also arrived at the party without warning, with its variant of Ómicron, which in other countries has triggered infections and hospitalizations. In the United States alone, more than 488 thousand new infections were registered today. The emergency units are filling up with patients again. In Spain, one of the countries with a complete vaccination rate greater than 89.9 percent (12 years and older), the Ministry of Health registered, just today 161 thousand 688 new infected. Our region of the world, the Americas, is not far behind, according to the Pan American Health Organization, cases have increased by 50 percent, as well as hospitalizations, which have increased by 11 percent.
It is true that Ómicron does not seem to be more serious than Delta. However, the increase in infections has led more people to the Intensive Care Units, the unvaccinated being the most affected. This includes those who do not have the complete vaccination schedule and the population of minors from 0 to 12 years of age. In the United States, the hospitalization rate for minors has increased by 30 percent in Pediatric Units – as it is the population with the lowest vaccination rate.
Faced with this global situation where epidemiologists and experts have come out to recommend in their social media accounts and in various media, the importance of giving “their children the gift of protection with vaccines as soon as possible” – as shared in her Twitter account was Dr. Erica Pan, an epidemiologist from the state of California, after observing the increase in admissions to Pediatric Units in New York.
Contrary to the opinions that are being shared about the vaccination of minors by many experts in the media, in our country, the reason for Public Health of the 4T -the Secretary López Gatell- has declared that “in Mexico is not considering vaccinating children under 15 years of age ”, this because“ WHO has not officially declared vaccinating these minors ”. I wonder if the same public health reason that is being followed for not vaccinating children and not advancing vaccination in the country at a faster rate, is the same that prevents the availability of anticancer drugs for minors.
Dear reader, in our country, only in the last 24 hours, 8 thousand 24 new infections of Covid were registered, more than 2 thousand 734 more than yesterday. We are in a new wave … today there are registered 34,671 active cases – of which the government reports, we have never really known the size of the pandemic until several months later. According to Our World in Data, the vaccination rate in Mexico is quite variable. Although there are cities such as Mexico City with more than 96% of people vaccinated, only 56% of people have the complete vaccination scheme, with Mexico being one of the countries of America with the lowest percentages of vaccinated people .
Given these circumstances, dear reader, I join the voices of experts from all over the world to remember the importance of vaccinating all people. More than 9.1 billion vaccines against Covid-19 have been successfully applied in all parts of the world. Please, if there is still something that stops you, I ask you to think again, review the available data and I invite you to get vaccinated, take yours to vaccinate and we take the pertinent precautions so that the wave does not come with such force.
It is unthinkable that our government prefers to spend the country’s resources on white elephants, refuses to readjust budgets and continues to use resources in unnecessary works, instead of increasing the speed of vaccination and also refusing to vaccinate our children. Not to mention the pending educational debt that will also remain due to the lack of investment in this sector during the pandemic – but this is another story.
* The author is a professor at the Faculty of Government and Economics of the Universidad Panamericana campus México. Degree in Communication and Master in Government and Politics. CEO of Wombat Accelerate.
Twitter: @yuyisvg
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx