Florence Cunzolo
06/09/2021 7:49 PM
Clarín.com
Good Life
Updated 06/09/2021 7:49 PM
Vaccines work and vaccines save lives are not just hashtags circulating on social media.
They are not opinions either.
They are claims supported by scientific evidence.
In the specific case of the coronavirus pandemic, a year ago there were incipient indications that candidate vaccines that were beginning to be tested in clinical studies in different countries could be effective in preventing Covid-19.
Today, the vaccination campaigns advancing around the world offer more and more confirming evidence: vaccines work.
It is worth remembering it on days when many people are alarmed when they learn from acquaintances, through the media or through the networks, of infections, hospitalizations or deaths in people with covid who were vaccinated.
"He had the two doses and he died",
"he was infected and he was vaccinated"
, it is read, it is commented, it is shared.
These cases should not make us lose sight of some issues: the coronavirus vaccines were very effective in clinical studies and are proving to be
very effective
in the "real world", that is, applied in the general population, to prevent covid, but especially those serious complications and death from infection.
But its high efficiency is not total.
They are not infallible
: for various reasons, there will always be a percentage of people who, upon coming into contact with the virus, will develop the disease;
some will even become complicated and die, especially in a
context of high circulation
like the current one.
Argentina is today the third country with the highest number of new cases reported in the world.
In Argentina, the vaccination campaign has accelerated in recent weeks.
Photo: José Gutierrez / Los Andes
"The different vaccines against covid that were developed from one year to now have shown to be highly safe and very effective, even with efficacy data much higher than expected, and much higher than those of other vaccines on the national vaccination calendar It is important to say that
no vaccine prevents 100%
of the cases of a disease, or of serious cases and deaths, "
the infectious physician Florencia Cahn, president of the Argentine Society of Vaccination and Epidemiology (SAVE)
, highlighted in dialogue with
Clarín.
).
"The vaccines against covid that we use in Argentina have a very high efficacy, ranging
between almost 80 and 95%
to prevent symptomatic forms of covid, but obviously people who are vaccinated can have mild or asymptomatic forms and obviously transmit the viruses to others. Severe cases in vaccinated people are extremely rare, but obviously they can happen, "added Cahn, who is on the government's medical advisory committee in the context of the pandemic.
These cases make up a
very small
number
in relation to the total number of vaccinated.
For every one that is known, there are many more where the vaccine "works."
Individual and community benefit
And here comes another issue that cannot be ignored: vaccination confers benefits at the individual level, but it is, mainly, a
preventive and highly effective
public health strategy
.
In Argentina, according to an analysis by the Ministry of Health of almost 8 million people who received the first dose, after 21 days of receiving it, only 1.60% became ill and 0.04% died.
While among the almost 1.5 million who completed the scheme, 21 days after the second dose, only a similar number became ill (1.58%) and
0.003% died
.
"Statistics show that the chances of dying from covid being vaccinated
are very, very low
. They are exceptional cases, but of course that when it comes to you closely, the statistics do not matter and what matters is the lives of the people. No However, generally speaking, and as a public health tool, vaccines are safe and effective in preventing severe forms and deaths from covid, "said Cahn.
Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said Tuesday that "we are already seeing a
positive impact
of vaccination," which is reflected in the decline in deaths in people over 60 years of age.
Vaccination coverage in this age group, with at least one dose, is 84%, the health portfolio reported.
"When you look at what would have happened in weeks 16-20 and what actually happened, estimates indicate that
5,500 deaths were prevented
during that time in Argentina," Vizzotti said.
The number arises from the projection of deaths that had been carried out taking as a reference the evolution registered in the previous four weeks (12 to 16).
Last week, the Buenos Aires government released the results of a monitoring of the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine on 186,581 people between 60 and 79 years old who had received the first dose.
The study showed an effectiveness of 78.6% to avoid cases of covid, of
84.7% to avoid deaths
and 87.6% to reduce hospitalizations.
Follow-ups are carried out around the world with similar results. A study carried out in Scotland analyzed the impact of the massive application of the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines and hospital admissions due to Covid-19. On more than 1.3 million people vaccinated since the end of December and February, between 28 and 34 days after receiving the application, the efficacy to
prevent hospitalization was 91% and 88%
, for each of the vaccines analyzed. .
This week, Uruguay, which has
more than 50% of the adult population vaccinated
with at least one dose, released a study of the effectiveness of the vaccines used there: Coronavac (from Sinovac) and the one produced by Pfizer.
The results showed that, 14 days after the last dose, both were effective in preventing hospitalization in intensive care and mortality
in more than 9 out of 10 cases
.
Vaccination in a center in Caracas, Venezuela Photo Xinhua / Marcos Salgado
Two-speed pandemic
Globally, reported global weekly cases fell 15%.
It is the sixth consecutive week in which there has been a drop in confirmed cases.
And the fifth with a decrease in the number of deaths (8% less compared to the previous one).
"We are increasingly seeing a
two-speed pandemic
: where many countries are still in an extremely dangerous situation, while others with the
highest vaccination rates
are beginning to talk about the end of the restrictions," analyzed the director general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
What is missing to know
All licensed coronavirus vaccines
are safe and effective and are the best tool
to start ending the pandemic. However, they are part of a combined prevention strategy that should be maintained for a longer time: correct use of the chinstrap, cross ventilation in closed environments, preference for outdoor activities and with physical distance, respiratory and hand hygiene, among others.
What is still missing to know?
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) summarizes the main questions in three points:
the level of effectiveness of vaccines against variants
of the virus, since the first data shows that they could be less effective against some;
how effective vaccines are in protecting people with weakened immune systems, and how long they protect.
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