05/31/2020 - 10:22
- Clarín.com
- Society
The national Ministry of Health reported that as of Monday the Sabin oral vaccine against polio will no longer be applied throughout the country and only the injectable type Salk will be used.
The announcement was made by the head of the National Immunization Commission, Mirta Roses, during the daily conference of the Ministry on the coronavirus.
" We are very excited to bid farewell to the Sabin droplets that helped us end polio and that we have used in the country in massive operations since 1971," said the specialist. And he added: "The application of the injectable vaccine will not be as easy as giving droplets, but we are sure that they will be able to continue fulfilling the enormous commitment and enthusiasm with the task as before."
The decision had been published in resolution 814 of April 24, 2020 in the Official Gazette and arose from the recommendations promoted by the National Commission on Immunizations and the National Certification Committee for the Eradication of Poliomyelitis.
As detailed in the considerations of the resolution, in 2014 Argentina had already incorporated the injectable Salk-type vaccine, completing the scheme with the Sabin oral vaccine and awaiting further progress in the world situation. And in 2016 the component of the Sabin virus type 2 was removed from the oral vaccine.
In the country, the last registered case of polio was in 1984 , while ten years later, in 1994, the Americas region was the first to be declared free of the disease.
Last year, according to data from the World Health Organization, 156 cases of polio were reported worldwide and it is estimated that the vaccine was able to prevent more than 16 million cases of paralysis due to the virus.
"It is a historical fact," said Carla Vizzotti, vice minister of Health and who is in charge of the report on Covid-19 every morning.
"We are one step away from eradicating the second disease in the world after smallpox thanks to vaccines. Vaccines equalize us and are a priority, a State policy in this country," said Vizzotti.