To achieve the government goal, some 76,300 people a day should reach the full vaccination schedule, but only about 38,200 do.
The day was just beginning and the line was already long. Carolina Montesdeoca arrived at 07:30 with her 6-year-old son to give him the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. They had to wait more than an hour and a half last Thursday to enter the facilities of the Calderón municipal school, in the north of Quito. In the end, he succeeded.
The hustle and bustle was intense at that vaccination center. Public officials made an effort to serve users quickly. The Government set itself a goal immunize 85% of the vaccinable population (over 5 years old) by the end of the year, that is, almost 13.7 million people, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP).
To achieve that goal, about 2.5 million should reach the full vaccination schedule in the next 33 days, about 76,300 people a day, according to official figures cut to last Thursday. This figure contrasts with the vaccination rate carried out by the MSP. An average of 38,200 people a day completed the vaccination schedule, between November 5 and 25. If it continues at this pace, the Government’s objective would be achieved in February of the following year.
The epidemiologist Catalina Yépez affirms that meeting the goal is very important, because it would give good protection of the population as long as biosecurity measures continue to be complied with. “If we reach 85% or 90% at the end of the year and if we maintain biosecurity and ventilation measures, we can spend some quiet holidays without reaching January with the forecast of a new wave,” he says.
Yépez recalls the push that the current administration gave to vaccination in the first months of the government. “At that accelerated rate and in multiple places simultaneously, we would not only reach 85% but we could also reach 90%.”
The manager of the National Vaccination Plan of the MSP, Cristina Aldaz, is optimistic about the progress of vaccination. “We hope to vaccinate at least 92% of the vaccinable population with first doses and we will make every effort to complete the second doses of this population,” he said.
In its planning, the possibility of not achieving the goal set by the Government is open. If this is not achieved, Aldaz said, the campaign will continue, including reinforcement aimed at those who have already completed the scheme.
“We are going to continue protecting the most vulnerable to cover 100% of the population, which is our fundamental goal. Not by dates but as a country to beat the pandemic ”, he commented.
According to the MSP figures, 100% of the most vulnerable population, older adults, you have already received the complete vaccination schedule.
Most of those who have not achieved immunization are the children between 5 and 11 years old. Vaccination of this group began in mid-October. As of last Thursday, 318,875 had received the complete scheme, which represented only 13.6% of the total.
Carolina Montesdeoca took her son to be vaccinated on the instructions of his teachers. “The school sent us a statement to come today to vaccinate our children. They also sent us a form to authorize the vaccine with our consent, the vaccination card for the first dose and the card, “he said.
This is just one of the strategies that the MSP applies to expand the process. Minister Ximena Garzón affirmed last Wednesday that she also mobile brigades have been formed and sweeps that, with the help of the Armed Forces, reach places that are difficult to access. The objective is “to go from house to house seeing who has not been vaccinated,” he said.
The plan also includes georeferencing, which is used to determine the level of vaccination that each parish has and to locate outbreaks. “Our efforts are directed to those parishes and cantons where we have seen that there are small outbreaks to vaccinate citizens who have been in contact with these cases and have not received the vaccines,” explained the minister.
Increase in cases and patients
The MSP reported 525,830 positive cases of COVID-19 as of last Wednesday. In the previous 30 days, it was determined 10,171 new cases. The figure is higher than the previous month, since 7,156 cases were registered in October.
The epidemiologist Catalina Yépez explained that “we are facing a highly transmissible virus that, eventually, can generate cases with very mild symptoms, that is, it does not require hospitalization or ICU and has a minimal risk of dying.”
For the specialist, more important than counting the cases is to monitor the number of deaths and beds occupied by patients with coronavirus.
In recent weeks there have also been an increase in these patients in intensive care units (ICU). Last Tuesday, the MSP reported 176 patients in these types of beds, while a month earlier the figure reached 105. Currently, 44% of ICUs are occupied nationwide. (I)
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