People between the ages of 35 and 49 with a chronic condition can receive the vaccine against it COVID-19 Starting next week, the designated Health Minister announced: Carlos Mellado, as part of a new flexibility of requirements.
At the same time, everyone aged 50 or older, regardless of health status, is eligible for vaccination against the dangerous virus. Until the end of this week, people 50 to 59 years of age could only be vaccinated if they were chronic patients with a particular condition.
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“Be it diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), multiple sclerosis, cancer, all kinds of chronic conditions are eligible for vaccination,” Mellado said at a news conference this afternoon.
People with chronic illnesses are included in the phase 1-C of the vaccination process, a stage that includes certain categories that have finished their vaccination, as happens in the correctional population.
Mellado emphasized that from Monday the vaccination of employees of the food industry will also start, such as the head of the National Guard Jose Reyes
The workers in the food chain are in the phase 1-B And, along with the workers of the postal and manufacturing industries, they are the only ones in that line whose vaccination has not yet begun, according to the digital dashboard of the Health Department
“We are going to start vaccinating what the food industry is (employees who work in clothing) from the moment the food leaves until it arrives at your table. That means we are going to vaccinate waiters, people from the food industry, who work directly with the production, ”said the appointed secretary.
The expansion of the immunization process will occur despite the fact that Puerto Rico is currently receiving a minimal amount of proprietary vaccines. Johnson & Johnson, which requires a single dose, unlike that of Pfizer Y Modern, that the.
Mellado estimated that this week, during which Salud received 3,000 doses from Johnson & Johnson, the federal government distributed a total of nearly 106,000 doses to the island, accounting for vaccines sent directly to community pharmacy programs and large chains. The agency has about 80,000 weekly vaccinations under control.
‘They give vaccines as far as they produce. We already have 41,500 (weekly doses) from Pfizer and we start with 20,000. Like Moderna, we are already going for 35,000. Johnson is expected to increase as they produce, ”said Mellado, indicating he did not know how many Johnson & Johnson vaccines would arrive next week.
On the other hand, Mellado presented projections that, he explained, support Salud’s decision in February by limiting vaccination to people 65 or older. According to the chart, the administrative order would have managed to avoid about 18,553 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 135 deaths that would have been recorded between February and June 15 had the decision not been made.
“We focused on the 65-year-old patients and it was the priority because we understood it was careful based on the statistics. More than 85% of the population that got complicated were people over the age of 65, ”stressed the health minister.
While Mellado was optimistic about the vaccination coverage of approximately 100,000 first doses administered weekly, he acknowledged that this could have given way to a sense of false security that has led to an increase in the rates of positivity over Covid-19 reported in the latter. period was recorded. week.
That trend, he admitted, worries him in light of what the Easter week, a period that usually lends itself to crowds, especially on the beaches, and the arrival of tourists.
“More than 80% of the transmission of the virus is community, it happens in activities like this, in crowds, family activities without protection. We must continue to encourage the public to get started with this. I think a lot of people have seen the vaccine, and I know it’s the light at the end of the road … but we’re going to vaccinate in the (established) order, ”said Mellado, who was not expecting additional government action. , beyond strengthening supervision.