On May 5, the World Health Organization declared the end of the Covid emergency after more than three years of pandemic. Two days earlier, the Argentine Ministry of Health had issued the new vaccination guidelines for the population. However, around those dates a hinge moment was configured: a before and after in the immunization curve.
The supposed feeling that Covid is no longer a danger made the application of the reinforcements yield even more strongly than it had given in the first months of the year. If the number of vaccines applied from the beginning of 2023 to the present is taken, the daily average gives 14,377 doses per day. But if that measurement is made exclusively in May, the figure collapses by almost half.
This is clear from the official data dumped in the Public Vaccination Monitor. The Government has already informed that the entire population must continue to apply the vaccine against Covid, with an annual reinforcement of the common people and one every six months for people who have risk factors.
To the extent that these reinforcements are not applied, herd immunity tends to weaken and the most susceptible pay the price. The population was now divided into three risk levels: high, medium and low. The first group should continue to be vaccinated more frequently, while the third group can do so only once a year. The intermediate group has a different regime.
The high-risk group for developing severe forms of the disease includes people aged 50 and over, the immunosuppressed and pregnant women: they should receive a booster dose against Covid if 6 months have passed since the last dose applied.
Those over age 50 should continue to receive one dose every 6 months. Photo: Xinhua
This is independent of the number of boosters previously received and respecting the minimum interval of at least 4 months since the last dose. On May 3, the Ministry of Health had reported that, according to the federal vaccination registry, 9,314,083 people aged 50 years and older had not received a booster dose in the last 6 months.
To get an idea of what that means in terms of overcoming coverage, it is enough to know that between the end of January and the present the total doses applied in the country against Covid (for all age groups) was less than 2 million.
People under 50 with comorbidities, health personnel and those considered to have a strategic role are included in the medium risk group of experiencing severe illness or death from Covid. For them, the recommendation is that they receive a new booster 6 months after the last dose applied, and then continue to receive an annual booster.
People considered at low risk of complications are those under 50 without comorbidities, who also have the booster vaccine available free of charge and it is recommended that the application be annual.
The official intention is for people to apply at the same time that both the Covid dose and the flu vaccine are going to be vaccinated. That is, those in vulnerable groups who need to be immunized against the influenza virus.
From the Ministry of Health, led by Carla Vizzotti, the goal is for people to take advantage of the same opportunity to get vaccinated against influenza and Covid.
Even though the danger of Covid has decreased, it is still a disease not comparable in its dangerousness with the flu. So far this year the coronavirus in its Ómicron version has left 252 deaths, while in all of last year the flu (which marked a historical record of cases) threw 143 deaths.
If you compare the daily average of deaths from influenza in 2022 and what happens now with the "weakened" Covid, it gives that every five days there were 8 deaths from Covid, while in the worst flu epidemic in history there were 2 deaths every five days. Covid, in this arbitrary comparison, quadruples the lethal incidence.
When the World Health Organization ended the pandemic, it warned that the "war" was not won and that the epidemiological scenario of the virus must continue to be closely monitored. WHO is currently monitoring two subvariants of Omicron that may be more contagious but apparently not more aggressive.
This is XBB.1.16 (popularly called "Arcturus"), notified so far in 49 countries and with sustained growth. In week 13 it represented 4.9 percent of all cases analyzed while in week 17 it already climbed to 11.6 percent.
The other subvariant of interest to WHO is XBB.1.5, reported in 110 countries, but which, despite having a higher incidence for now, is in decline: it went from 51.9 percent in week 13 to 43.8 percent in week 17.
In Argentina, poor and outdated information on sample sequencing indicates that the XBB subvariant has a minority share in the total universe of cases, dominated by BQ.1 (popularized as "Hell Dog"). Although based on the prevailing data deficit in that regard, this statement should be taken with tweezers.
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