Pablo Sigal
04/12/2021 12:13
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 04/12/2021 12:14 PM
The decision of the Government, through the Federal Health Council, to
postpone
the second dose of Sinopharm for
at least three months
, provokes the rejection of the scientific community and an increasingly strong demand for the second dose to be applied within a period
not greater than four weeks.
Clarín
published this Sunday an article on the problems that this official policy has, which covers all vaccines but generates doubts especially with this Chinese vaccine because
there are no studies or documentation
to support the decision.
The health ministers of the 24 provinces voted on the measure and included Sinopharm by
"scientific analogy."
This means, according to officials, that if a certain dosage and schedule may be suitable for one vaccine (for example, AstraZeneca), they could also be suitable for the others.
This occurs in
a scenario of dose shortages
, in which the Government seeks to vaccinate the largest number of vulnerable people before winter,
even if only half.
Clarín
consulted the Ministry of Health to find out if this measure can be reviewed in the case of Sinopharm, based on the lack of data on this vaccine, called Vero Cell.
But in the environment of Carla Vizzotti there is a
strong silence
about it.
Neither, until now, have there been explanations from the provinces that approved the postponement of the second dose
for all
vaccines that are applied in the country.
In the case of AstraZeneca and Sputnik V
there is more data
that allows us to advance with some evidence.
A nurse prepares a dose of the Sinopharm vaccine in a Buenos Aires vaccination center.
Photo: Xinhua
Within Vizzotti's slightly wider circle, an answer was rehearsed.
The infectologist and government advisor Pedro Cahn, said in the last hours: “Any level of protection is better than
no level of protection
.
I would not draw conclusions about a newspaper clipping or generate unfounded fears ”.
This Monday, in an interview on Radio with you, Cahn added: "There was never talk of giving a single dose. What we are discussing is
whether it is given at 28 days or at three months
."
The answer, it seems, shows that there is a discussion in official circles.
The fact is that while that debate is settling, there are people who have
already had four weeks
after the first dose was applied.
In Chile, for example, low levels of protection were detected with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which uses the same technology.
With that of Sinopharm for now there is uncertainty.
One of the experts most concerned about this issue is another government advisor, Eduardo López: “I left it raised at all the levels that I could.
Other countries are using Sinopharm
with two doses with the times established by the laboratory
, such as Hungary, Peru or Mexico ”.
Another specialist who spoke about the issue over the weekend was the infectologist Fernando Polack, responsible for the Pfizer trial in Argentina.
On CNN's Conecta2 program, he said that "a person
is not fully vaccinated
with a single dose of Chinese vaccines."
The expert spoke generally of Chinese vaccines.
Both the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines use
inactivated virus
technology
, which usually require a greater boost in the times provided by the producing laboratory.
Sinopharm with both doses guarantees an effectiveness of
79.3 percent
.
With one, you don't know.
The uncertainty caused by this decision is also reflected in social networks, where people who have already received the first dose of Sinopharm are claiming the second, under the hashtag
#segundadosissinopharm.
“Nobody says anything, nobody answers us.
We're alone.
They don't complete the schedule.
Two negative antibody tests.
Health personnel, risk patients and university teachers and I don't have the second dose ”, says user @ jorba65.
There are hundreds of similar messages on Twitter.
The Government, according to Alberto Fernández, is waiting for the arrival of the
two million doses
of Sinopharm that remain to arrive from the contract signed by Argentina
in the next few days
.
If they are applied as first doses, the claim of those already vaccinated will have to keep waiting.
$
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