Given the small population with a dose of vaccine against Covid-19 that the Dominican Republic has and the aggressiveness with which some variants of the virus occur, renowned Dominican physician Rubén Peralta fears that a massive opening during Holy Week could be the start of a third outbreak of the virus in the country.
The trauma and intensive care specialist fears that this will also lead to and entail the entry and community circulation into Dominican territory of the variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus detected in the community of Washington Heights, New York. . an increase in infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
Remember that as long as it is not possible to deliver the two doses of vaccines to the majority of the population, the country must continue to work hard to search or trace through massive testing, establish an epidemiological cordon, manage and isolate cases and that the public should take responsibility for protective measures such as the use of a mask, physical distance and washing hands.
Professor Peralta brought forward his considerations from Doha, Qatar, the Middle East, where he holds the position of Deputy Medical Director of the Center and Programs for Trauma in Qatar, and participates as a guest in the “ Appointment with the Covid ” which takes place each is broadcast on Monday at 9 am. : 00 at night by Listindiario.com, hosted by the director Miguel Franjul and journalist Doris Pantaleón.
He recalled that to ensure effective protection through vaccines, both doses must be taken and remain 15 days later, so preventive measures must be maintained.
Variants of the virus
He recalled that there are countries with many vaccines showing new waves of the virus with major consequences, citing Brazil as an example, where the new variant being discovered is causing the system to collapse.
He said the variants of the virus that have surfaced will be the ones that will outline the treatment strategies countries should follow, possibly for the next two years.
At least five variants of the Covid-19 virus have been isolated in the country, according to health authorities.
Peralta said he fears the BI52C variant will arrive in the country from New York, which is very deadly and highly transferable. this generates super outbreak events, and the pandemic may be out of control for a long time ”. He also asked the Ministry of Health to be transparent and to sound the alarm to the population that the pandemic is out of control and that it should conduct massive testing to detect the virus.
Very high positivity to open schools
The renowned specialist believes that the positivity of the virus in the country, which yesterday accounted for more than 11% of the samples processed in the past four weeks, is very high and that those percentages should not be considered as opening schools. in person You cannot be in gyms or bars because the risk of outbreaks is very high.
He said the ideal is for the positivity to be below 5% to be able to open these types of activities. He recalled that in March last year, during an interview that the researcher Ligia Peralta gave with his sister to Listín Diario, he emphasized the need for a massive search for cases and the establishment of epidemiological cordons by area, measure, which he said, at this point they still apply.
All vaccines reduce hospital admissions
He emphasized the effectiveness of all vaccines against Covid-19 that have been approved and used in the countries. He stressed that they are all effective in reducing from 85% to 100% of hospital admissions, critical conditions, and deaths, which is why they arouse a lot of optimism.
However, he regretted that there is a very large gap in vaccine procurement, with great inequality between countries, and that vaccination nationalism has also emerged, one in which the rich countries that produce them hoard them for internal use.
He applauded the Dominican government’s staged vaccination model, because with an anemic supply of vaccines, it is ideal to give priority to at-risk groups.
AstraZeneca case
Regarding the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several European countries in light of some cases of coagulation problems, he explained that it is a specific batch of a million doses distributed in that region, so it is always important that people look at the batch number of the vaccines they receive.