The hospitalization of physicians due to coronavirus experienced a notable decrease nationwide once they received the second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, the
Peruvian College of Physicians (CMP) has reported.
"There is a quite marked breaking point since the second week of March, when a large part of the medical community —which is on the frontline— had already received the second dose of the vaccine,"
CMP Representative Eden Galan expressed.
In remarks to Andina news agency, he pointed out that this aspect is worth highlighting because —while the trends of hospitalizations and ICU admission of the general population continue to grow— "the opposite is true in the case of physicians."
"From January of this year onwards, we have observed how the situation changed following the second week of vaccination. Both COVID hospitalizations and intensive care hospitalizations are declining. This situation gives us confidence, courage, but we cannot lower our guard," he said.
Improving the standard
"
This process began on February 8, but there are still difficulties (in drawing up the final list of doctors). We have been able to validate the data with the general office of information technology run by the Ministry of Health. Thus, we detected that there was an important group which had not been considered in the nominal registry of health workers and therefore not for vaccination." he said.
The officer commented that the delay in the immunization of medical personnel is due to the fact that —at the beginning— Minsa had only included the personnel working at public sector centers, forgetting that there are different types of contracts, such as those of third parties, who had not been considered in the nominal registry.
It was also necessary to include free doctors (who do not work at clinics) and retired physicians, who could join using telemedicine.
"As the College of Physicians, we are conducting active surveillance because we cannot sit idly by, waiting for Minsa to do everything," he said.
He explained that —thanks to an alliance built with the Social Health Insurance System (EsSalud)— about 8,000 doctors have been vaccinated to date.
Less deaths
Moreover, the officer indicated that the impact of the immunization of physicians is undeniable, especially in the midst of this aggressive second wave.
"(…) As of April, there were only 22 deceased doctors, something which obviously hurts us, but we see a decreasing trend," he expressed, adding that —during the first wave— the most critical month was August 2020 with more than 70 deceased doctors.
The representative was also concerned about the immunological coverage of medical interns, who are working on the frontline as well.
The expert also took the opportunity to make clear that the various vaccines being administered against SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 in the country and the rest of the world do not prevent one from being infected, but they prevent cases from becoming severe and leading to more deaths.
(END) KGR/RRC/MVB
Published: 4/27/2021