Although hospital admissions and ventilation equipment has declined in recent weeks, health experts reiterated that it is too early to conclude that the COVID-19 vaccine is already starting to have an effect on a collective level.
The Ministry of Health and National Guard have insisted that in order to achieve collective immunity, at least 70% of the population should be vaccinated. In recent weeks, hospital admissions, ventilation and intensive care figures have fallen after the highest peaks between November and December. Yesterday, the Institute of Statistics registered a total of 407 beds occupied by COVID-19 in the country’s hospitals, while 51 intensive care beds are occupied for coronavirus patients and a total of 61 ventilators are in use. In December the number of occupied beds was 657, while in intensive care it rose to 109 occupied beds and 118 fans in use in December.
According to Víctor Ramos, president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, it is too early to conclude that the vaccine is starting to have an impact on a collective level. However, the doctor hoped that vaccination could be accelerated in Puerto Rico as doses of vaccines continue to arrive on the island.
“No, the reality is that it will have an impact when we reach that 70%. And what I do think is that we are doing really well, compared to other parts of the world, ”said Ramos, who warned that a new variant could cause a revival in cases on the island.
The doctor said that due to the delay of the companies Pfizer and Moderna in distributing the vaccines, the island and other jurisdictions from the United States have received drippers. “Pfizer and Moderna fell short of what they said they were going to produce and so there was less quantity in all places, not just Puerto Rico, in all states and territories. But it is believed that they will already hit the percentage they said since the second half of January and eventually other vaccines will hit the market and we will have many more vaccines to move forward in the phase, ”he said.
According to figures from the health department, 112,582 people had been vaccinated yesterday. However, the agency’s press staff indicated that the figure corresponds to the vaccines administered and registered in the system. “More are vaccinated than are registered on the platform,” says Lisdián Acevedo, DS press officer.
While the vaccine could have an impact for infectologist Ángeles Rodríguez, at least in the medical class, as they are more exposed to the virus than the rest of the population. “That must have an impact on the collective. First, because they are the people who are directly serving the patients and the people who are now on their second dose are from the hospital, ”argued the epidemiologist, who also thought that the numbers for hospitalizations and use of ventilation equipment could be rise. after the Christmas celebrations.
According to Bloomberg, the United States had administered more than 10.8 million vaccines against COVID-19 since Thursday.
While the epidemiologist Cruz Nazario pointed out that in order to achieve collective immunity, approximately 2,555,000 people need to be vaccinated in Puerto Rico, which could lean towards a total of 5,100,000 vaccinations given after the second dose.
However, the health worker expressed concern about the speed at which vaccines have been administered in Puerto Rico and believed that vaccination in Puerto Rico is moving at a slow pace and that this could prevent the country from completing the process in 2021, as they have done . expected government agencies of the country. “The papers show that most of the people getting vaccinated are about 2,000 or 3,000 people a day and if you do the calculations, with the same vaccination rate – and that 30,000 vaccines arrive in Puerto Rico – at this rate, 85% have been vaccinated in three years.” , the teacher also stated.
He also criticized the government’s approach to vaccinations against COVID-19, as vaccination centers were not yet ready to administer the doses to patients. “It is the same problem that we have always had of giving incomplete and confusing information to the population and then we complain that the population is not doing what they should do. You don’t speak clearly, ”he said.