Leon, Gto. Cristian Roberto Morales Fuhrimann, representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Mexico, called on the federal government to advance in the coverage of vaccination against Covid-19 in minors old.
In an interview for El Economista within the framework of the International Congress for the Prevention of Addictions Planet Youth, held in the state of Guanajuato, the representative of PAHO / WHO indicated that although the vaccination program in our country has been good Aimed at having a significant supply of vaccines, this process must include all sectors of the population, including minors.
“It has to be directed (…) according to the availability of vaccines, to the risk groups (…) of course, to the extent that these groups are already being fully vaccinated, with their two-dose schedule, it can be passed to others groups to the extent that there is scientific evidence available to support it, “he stressed.
Morales Fuhrimann added that he supports “the universal vaccination campaign, Mexico is one of the countries that is fortunate to have a sufficient supply of vaccines for its entire population and we must continue to advance in this regard.”
Third dose
Asked about the effectiveness of applying a third dose to vulnerable groups to prevent Covid-19 infections, the representative of the multilateral organizations commented that at the international level “scientific information is still being collected in this regard and we hope to have conclusions soon.”
Although, he added, “without a doubt it is one of the alternatives that is emerging, not only in Mexico,” but in different countries and in particular, for vulnerable health and elderly people.
It is worth mentioning that the government of Mexico confirmed the day before the application of a third dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 for older adults and teachers, as a containment measure for the Omicron variant.
In this context, Morales Fuhrimann indicated that Mexico has enough vaccines, while mentioning that our country “is lucky” to have a sufficient supply of vaccines.
Omicron spread, inevitable
The PAHO representative warned that the closure of borders is not a measure that can prevent the introduction of any type of variant of coronavirus. “It is not to avoid something that is not avoidable.”
The representative of WHO / PAHO also recognized that there is international concern about the new variant because it may be more infectious or more virulent, although, he said, we must inform what this disease is about, do not panic.
“Something that we should not do (…) is close borders without scientific evidence that this is useful.
“In our understanding, no country that has closed borders has prevented the arrival of a variant, so it is only a measure that ultimately does not allow us to control the main objective and affects and has very important economic effects at the social level. This variant is one of concern, not panic, “he said.
On the other hand, he also pointed out that due to the arrival of Ómicron, countries are being asked to intensify genomic surveillance, with Mexico as one of the nations that has reported tens of thousands of sequencing, thanks to the fact that “it has one of the stronger epidemiological surveillance systems in the continent and we are sure that if other countries like Mexico collaborate, we will be able to define the potential for concern, more specifically for Ómicron in the next two or three weeks ”.
In this context, the WHO expert added that Mexico’s epidemiological surveillance is one of the best, at the level of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the United States and Canada.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx