The application of the flu vaccine has started. Dr. Romina Libster, a specialist in the study of the impact of immunopreventable diseases associated with infant mortality, gave her opinion to Télam on the importance of vaccination for risk groups and the need to keep vaccines up to date in children and adults in times of coronavirus.
"When is the vaccine going to be available?", "Is it going to be available for everyone?", "Why don't we have a vaccine yet?", "And in the meantime... how do we protect ourselves?". These are the questions that sound the most in the media at the same time that images are shown of empty shelves and long lines to buy alcohol gel and masks, products that, of course, are scarce.
In the streets you see people with their mouths covered going from one pharmacy to another in search of the flu vaccine and looking at each other as if they were contagious. Any resemblance to reality is NOT pure coincidence. We'll get to that...in a minute.
The above described is, no more and no less, what we lived through during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009. Do you remember now? No? It caught us all off guard and for months we waited, anxiously and hopefully, for scientists, in a race against time, to discover the vaccine that would save us all. Thousands of people died. And the vaccine finally arrived. The following year people, especially those in at-risk groups, were massively vaccinated and the impact on the reduction of the disease was impressive. It sounds like a Hollywood movie, but it is not.
Let me tell those who did not see what was coming after the titles, that the movie does not end there. The following year - that is, in 2011 - when the vaccine was already available, deaths due to H1N1 flu had decreased and there was no talk of pandemic, some people forgot the feeling they had before the appearance of the new virus and, as they thought there was no more risk, they did not get vaccinated against the flu. Thus, year after year, many people forgot how important it was to get vaccinated against the flu. The memory of the feeling of danger before a new virus lasted much less than the immunological memory.
Today we are facing a very similar situation - although perhaps enhanced by the biology of the virus and the immediacy and excess of information resulting from increasing globalization - to the one we experienced during the flu pandemic ten years ago, and it is NOT purely by chance. Nature constantly reminds us that a simple mutation can cause a new virus to appear for which we have no defenses and with the capacity to spread around the world. We are experiencing this today with COVID-19, a disease that is spreading by leaps and bounds around the world and for which we still have neither natural defenses nor a vaccine to save us. This is how vulnerable a world without vaccines feels...
Our experience in this new pandemic makes us remember and appreciate how important it is to have safe and effective vaccines to protect us from serious diseases such as measles, polio or influenza, among others.
The race to find a vaccine and treatments against the coronavirus began months ago. There are dozens of organizations and scientists working non-stop to develop them. Thanks to the enormous advances in technology and science, the first results will be known soon. In the meantime, here's some great news: we have a vaccine available that protects against the flu, one of the most dreaded winter illnesses! It is free and mandatory for all people who are in the risk groups.
Protecting ourselves and all members of our community, especially those most at risk of becoming seriously ill, depends on each and every one of us. Let's not forget how fortunate we are to have a flu vaccine, especially at this particular time in our lives.
You can find more information regarding flu vaccination here https://www.argentina.gob.ar/salud/vacunas/antigripal
It is important to follow the recommendations of the health authorities, especially on how vaccinations will be carried out during the quarantine in each city. Be informed and don't forget, if you take care of yourself, you are taking care of all of us!
We already know what we should do, what are you waiting for?
By Romina Libster- Télam
Link to full article: https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202004/449946-vacunacion-coronavirus-opinion.html
