Pablo Sigal
09/20/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 09/20/2021 6:00 AM
The challenges of the Argentine vaccination plan against
Covid-19
facing the next peak of the Delta variant and the elections of November 14 are twofold: completing the second doses of those over 18 years of age and advancing with the immunization of
adolescents without comorbidities
.
All the provinces are on the first path, trying to narrow the
gap between the first and second doses
applied, with the vaccines they have available.
The difference - or the novelty - was started by those districts that decided to
vaccinate 17-year-olds
.
In the City, this population, still of school age, must continue waiting for the moment of the long-awaited puncture to arrive.
In the Province
they have already sent 125 thousand shifts
.
These are the Pfizer doses, approved for use in people 12 to 17 years of age.
Other provinces
that are also quickly targeting that target are - as announced in recent hours - Córdoba, Santa Fe, San Juan, Neuquén, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Río Negro.
Córdoba and Santa Fe get a batch of Pfizer vaccines similar to the one received by the City.
However, there is a
divergence of criteria
when deciding to whom to apply these -for now- low doses.
A vaccinated teenager in Salta.
The Federal Health Council (Cofesa) has recommended in its last meeting that Pfizer vaccines now be used
entirely
for the vaccination of adolescents.
In the previous meeting, however, the opportunity had been given to choose according to the needs of each district.
The priority in the City, the health authorities assure, continues to be for the moment to
cover the second doses
of other missing vaccines in
adults
.
In this case, these are those who received AstraZeneca, have expired and must complete their scheme.
Another Buenos Aires argument is that the portion of Pfizer vaccines that have arrived is a
marginal figure in absolute terms
, and that opening the "adolescent stage" now would provoke more expectations than the available stock could satisfy.
According to this argument, it would be necessary to wait for the batches distributed by Nación to be
more abundant
, and at the same time there is no deficit of second doses in adults with other brands, and then the syringes should be aimed at those under 18 years of age.
Based on official data, there are 360 thousand porteños who are between 10 and 19 years old.
If the distribution per year were equitable, there would be
36 thousand
who today have 17. For vaccination purposes, minors with comorbidities already immunized would have to be discounted.
An adolescent with comorbidities vaccinated in August in the City.
Photo: Macarena Bultri
That is to say that with what they have received so far
they could not even complete the first dose of that age group
, although they could at least start, as they have decided in other provinces.
They are complex public health definitions, not without uncertainty: when will there be more doses of AstraZeneca or Sputnik 2 available?
The province of Buenos Aires today has a greater total stock of vaccines than the City, which is reflected in the Public Vaccination Monitor.
Governor Axel Kicillof today has
1.7 million unapplied
and the head of the City, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, is up to date.
That Buenos Aires availability would not be, in any case, the explanation that they now summon adolescents to get vaccinated.
From the Ministry of Health of the Province they told
Clarín
that
"it was a
health
decision"
of the district.
That is to say, it is not that they have resolved the second doses of all the majors.
Yes, on the other hand, they seem to have enough stock to
satisfy those over 60 years of age
, since they have just enabled free vaccination for all those who, with the term expired, still do not have the second dose of AstraZeneca, Sputnik V or Sinopharm.
On the other hand, it is not the first time that Buenos Aires decisions, depending on the availability of doses,
differ
from those adopted by other districts.
Historically, Rodríguez Larreta has chosen to
“finish”
immunizing one group to start another.
Ministers Kreplak and Quirós at a meeting at Casa Rosada in August.
Photo: Presidency
Last March a controversy had been generated, regarding this issue, by the vaccination of teachers with the doses of Sinopharm.
While the Province advanced and the Nation pressured the City to do the same, Buenos Aires officials argued that they still had
health personnel
without immunization and that prevented them from moving to the next phase.
From now on the expectation will be placed on the arrival of
new lots from Pfizer
.
So far, just over
260,000 doses
have landed in Ezeiza
and, as planned,
580,000 more
should arrive before the end of the month
.
In October, November and December the balance of the 20 million purchased from the laboratory would be completed.
Of that amount, the City would correspond - in proportion to its population - almost
1.5 million
vaccines.
A priori, there would be about
750,000 complete vaccination schedules
, although the fate of Buenos Aires adolescents would depend on how many doses are finally allocated to complete the Oxford and Sputnik V vaccine schedules.
Based on this panorama, when does the City anticipate that it will begin to vaccinate adolescents without comorbidities?
"We estimate
for October
, always depending on the arrival of the doses,"
sources from the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health
responded to
Clarín
.
Anyway, the current scenario shows
imbalances
between
one side and the other of General Paz
.
And it is likely that, depending on how the start was, the 16 and 17-year-old residents of Buenos Aires with the right to vote on November 14 will go to the polls more immunized than their Buenos Aires counterparts.
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