Argentina achieved coverage of 89% in the national campaign against measles

[Inkriql]

The result of the National Monitoring Campaign against Measles and Rubella reached coverage of 89%, according to the report presented by the authorities of the Health Ministry Secretariat before the National Immunization Commission (CoNaIn). Thus, during October and November, 2,500,000 girls and boys between 13 months and 4 years received an additional dose of the triple viral vaccine that protects against measles, rubella and mumps.

"We congratulate all the provinces and especially the work and effort made by all the vaccinators in the country that made these results possible," said the Undersecretary of Prevention and Control of Communicable and Immunopreventable Diseases, Miriam Burgos.

It should be noted that this campaign exceeded the coverage of 81.7% of the previous 2014 that was developed in the span of three months, instead of two as this year, and that all jurisdictions reached or exceeded 80%.

"I think the campaign was successful, taking into account that we practically reached 90% in two months and we carried out the search for unvaccinated children for another 15 days," said the president of the Commission for the Certification of the Elimination of Endemic Circulation. of Measles, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome, Angela Gentile. Anyway, the infectologist said that you have to look for children who have not been reached by the strategy to be calm that they are not susceptible.

In that sense, Gentile analyzed that "we achieved something good in the middle of a regional situation that presents outbreaks in countries of the Americas region, and in that context having these campaign results seems important to me".

For his part, the head of the Directorate of Control of Immunopreventable Diseases (DICEI), Cristian Biscayart said that "it is a campaign in which we can be satisfied, although all of us who work in this know that the ideal would have been a coverage of 95% or more, having reached almost 90% is a good achievement because it speaks of the drastic reduction of susceptible to contracting the disease. Although you have to look for children who need to vaccinate, "he said.

The Immunoprevenibles official stressed that unlike the previous campaigns this year it was proposed that it be of high quality, which implied, among other requirements, actions circumscribed in time with a precise beginning and end. "This we could fulfill since the campaign closed on November 30 and there were two accessory weeks in which monitoring was carried out in which the vaccines were administered to the missing children and which were added to the coverage because they were part of the actions of it, "he explained.

"The viral offer in the world and in the region is important. Argentina has been working on the issue with great awareness and responsibility ", concluded Biscayart, who also thanked the strong vocation and work of the vaccinators in all jurisdictions as well as the scientific societies, health professional entities, trade union and social organizations, and Alejandro Wiebe and his son Mirko who supported this initiative.