07/04/2021 21:55
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 07/04/2021 10:13 PM
The Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós, spoke again about the convocation of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires to those over 21 years of age to test a combination of vaccines against the coronavirus.
The official explained that
the problem arises with the Russian Sputnik V
, because there is no "accessibility to cut the interdose interval."
"From the City we have made the decision to carry out this trial or evaluation of the level of safety and efficacy that the combination of the first component with other vaccines has, and that is what we are beginning to do in the coming days," he explained in dialogue with the
TN
channel
.
He set a date
for this Tuesday
.
Quirós said that all health ministers have a "common view" in this regard.
"Two or three weeks ago, Argentina had made a strategic decision which was to
intensify the first doses
to as many people as possible because that is what Canada and England had done and had shown that it
was appropriate,
" he said.
And followed.
"The first dose significantly reduces the risk of having the serious and fatal disease and we reached many more people.
This strategy went into crisis
when a new strain appeared that was documented to protect little clinical disease, a little more fatal, with which runs quickly, "he explained.
As he said, the health ministers understood "the need to refocus the strategy and
now intensify a lot in the second doses
, above all, cut the interdose intervals, the time between the first and the second."
That is why, he assured, it is easy to do it with Sinopharm and Astrazeneca, but
not with Sputnik
.
"With Sinopharm we have made the decision in the City to give the second dose between the 21st and the 18th, the third and fourth week. With
AstraZeneca at the eighth week
, because if you give it a little earlier it has a
lesser effect
."
Quirós said that these types of studies
"last two or three weeks"
and that "they are resolved quickly."
"We are going to start the application Tuesday or Wednesday
and in two or three days we will complete it. It is a very fast, concrete and linear study. There are five thousand people registered as
volunteers
and we need only 250 people," he explained.
What is sought in the study
Quirós said that "the vaccine is not that it expires or loses its effect rapidly", but that what the ministries are looking for is
"a change in strategy."
"We no longer have to plan the 90 days but
a shorter period
. In the City, those who were vaccinated until February 25, that is to say that six or seven days ago the 90 days were fulfilled, we have offered everyone the second component from Sputnik, it's not that we have a debt, so to speak, "he said.
He confirmed that there are about
60 thousand people
who have given the first dose of the Russian vaccine and
the deadline is expiring
.
"There is information that they are going to bring second components in the next few days. If that were the case, it would be fulfilled quickly," he said.
In addition, he considered that the vaccine combination trial is to
"seek other alternatives
.
"
"It has been seen in the world that the combinations of Astrazeneca with Pfizer, in either of the two senses, first one and then the other, have similar adverse reactions and immune responses, with which, there is no reason to think that other vaccines do not have the same effect. That is,
they can be combined,
"he continued.
He also said that as the vaccines demonstrated safety, "combining vaccines is not going to have a different level of safety."
"What we have to see is what is technically called
reactogenicity
, that is, how many effects are there in the first or second day. The English and Spanish experience show that the immunity is a little higher, but also greater immunity than the original scheme", explained.
Quirós said that "60 0 70%" of the people have some reaction.
"Most are local, but a smaller percentage have systemic effects: headache, body aches, fatigue and fever. We have to see if the reactogenicity is greater or not and what effects. And on the other hand,
how many defenses does it awaken you
" .
Finally, he assured that "
the second component of Sputnik is already a combination
."
"All the elements indicate that the combinations are going to be possible, what you have to see is which is better than which," he concluded.
DS
Look also
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