© Leandro Teysseire
“Today there are a lot of first-timers,” says Paola Prieto Santillán, a licensed nurse and vaccinator for the Municipality of Quilmes. It refers to those who arrive these days to take the first dose of anticovid vaccine. She speaks “shocked”, because “the level of infections of the Ómicron is terrible”. In the rise in cases and in the demand for the “health pass”, Paola identifies the important factors “that today push people to get vaccinated.” “The motivation is multi-causal,” says Gustavo Gret, an infectologist from a municipality in the suburbs, as defined. The gesture is collective and for the experts “it speaks very well of how, as a country, we understand that it is about taking care of ourselves,” confirms Juan Manuel Castelli, doctor in charge of the Undersecretary of Health Strategies of the Ministry of Health of the Nation.
The statistics of the Ministry of Health coincide when measuring the phenomenon: in the last eight weeks, more than 900,000 people over 18 years of age began their vaccination scheme. In that period, week 54 of the campaign –which ended on January 7– was the one with the highest number of schemes started in people 18 years of age or older: more than 2,700,000 doses were applied. This is generalized, at the country level.
The phenomenon responds to particular situations and its reasons can be summarized in a few variables: one is the obligation to carry a health pass. Another refers to “a change in perception – Castelli details -, we came from a period, in the last 20 weeks, of falling numbers and a stabilization of cases.” This changed with the arrival of the Omicron variant and its contagious power. This third wave “where Delta is mixed with Omicron, is generating concern in those who had not been vaccinated and come for fear of being hit by the virus,” explains Gret.
The release of the first and second dose shifts, and the reinforcement in people over 60, at risk and health personnel, in the province of Buenos Aires is another factor to consider, Gret says, according to what she observes among her patients in the municipality of Ezeiza. Castelli places this decision within “the effort of each jurisdiction to facilitate the widest coverage possible.” And in a determining factor, he points out.
In addition, to a lesser extent, the requirement for labor issues since, in private companies and public departments, the decision to have vaccinated workers is extended. These situations “can serve to explain the rise of the beginnings of the scheme, but these are difficult questions to evaluate – Castelli warns – since it would be necessary to know in each individual case why they do it”. The official admits, in the face of the widespread advance of the beginning of the scheme in people over 18 years of age, that the “health pass” is a motivation. But the phenomenon responds “to the effort of each jurisdiction to facilitate access to vaccination to have the widest coverage possible,” he insists. Having today “95 percent of the estimated population with their scheme started is a great advance in the fight against the pandemic,” he maintains.
The health pass
The pass is national. Since January 1, it governs at the country level. In the province of Buenos Aires it began on December 21, then it was Salta and in Tucumán. Emiliano applied the first dose in December. He is 22 years old and went on vacation to Salta with his 19-year-old girlfriend who was already vaccinated. “I did it because I needed it, to be calmer to travel and because she asked me to,” concedes the young man, a vegan for less than a year, “and anti-vaccines,” he says. “But not fundamentalist,” he clarifies.
The administrative decision that carries “the pass” indicates that it is needed for actions such as: group trips –graduates or retirees–, to access closed places such as bowling alleys or shopping. And for massive events with more than a thousand people. “As this is a federal country – adds Castelli -, each province can then add activities to the extent it deems necessary due to the epidemiological situation it is going through.”
“The pass reactivated vaccinations, it’s a great thing,” confirms Paola. “There are a lot of first-timers and vacations help, without a pass they cannot take a group,” he details, “but the abrupt rise in cases also influences.” Vaccination was reactivated “for fear of contagion,” he maintains. “Numbers are people and many do not have a good time, or are afraid that it will be as lethal as when the pandemic started,” evaluates the vaccinator.
There are plenty of reasons
“Young people go for the pass, for an administrative decision that affects them in their daily lives. The initiative does not oblige you, but without this you cannot enter the cinema or the bank”, Paola reviews. This currently motivated “perhaps an awakening of consciousness in people who did not show social or collective commitment in the face of contagion,” he adds. Among the people who have lost relatives, says the vaccinator, it is common to hear that the infections came from young people who initially did not want to be vaccinated. Some people “take it perfectly, others don’t and they got it from their grandson who works in the bank, or as a cadet or delivery man.” Today that is changing. Every day more young people get to give themselves “their first dose”.
Other people who do not want to vaccinate are forced by the places where they work. “Especially in the health sector, we have colleagues who were intimidated by the refusal to be immunized,” explains Paola. The companies take the recommendation of the State so that people “do not infect, or become infected.”
However, for Mariela Ferrando, a graduate in kinesiology who was a vaccinator in CABA, in many people who have not yet given the first dose, the ideological question will not change: “it is the hard core,” she describes. “And due to the characteristics of this wave –he warns-, they will want to be vaccinated less, because they believe in herd immunity. This strain spreads faster and they take it in favor. I have health colleagues in that situation. Yes, it may happen that they do it out of obligation, not out of conviction“.
“A colleague at the university where I teach,” says Mariela, “has already said that he is going to get vaccinated, out of obligation. That trend is growing,” he says. And he celebrates that “the coverage is also growing.” hospitalized by covid did not have their first dose or do not have the complete schedule, says Mariela, that reinforces the tendency to get vaccinated among those who resisted the measure. Although many do not admit it publicly, she adds. “If you think coldly as a businessman or if you have many people in charge in your work, you are responsible for them being vaccinated, especially when the State provides you with the vaccines for free!” emphasizes Paola. “If you think about it, you see it. The ARTs also see it, that’s why they don’t give to claims,” he says.
the first dose
“When someone gets the first dose, I try not to go into shock and be empathic, so as not to miss an opportunity to vaccinate, always prioritize that. Some are angry and I tell them: well you encouraged yourself, you took the big step. That’s where it happens, and I talk: did you see what the health pass does? It serves to not be left out of many things”. Those who are more convinced in general have had cases among their relatives.
Although not all the cases of the first dose today are because the anti-vaccine conviction gives way or “for fear of the wave of infections.” Celene is 39 years old and took her first dose on December 2. The second one a week ago. For medical reasons they did not recommend its application. However, his recommendation is to get vaccinated: “the decision is personal, but you have to abide by the consequences and limitations that this generates, so as not to complicate the lives of others, and also to take care of your own.” With so many asymptomatic cases and close contacts, “today I don’t see much difference with the few not yet vaccinated,” Celene analyzes. “I think that the unvaccinated can cause the same damage as the asymptomatic, for that matter, but if they get infected – he adds -, they may be at greater risk.” He talks about the ailments during the course of the disease, and the aftermath. A universe that still does not offer real certainties.
Lower country risk
The progress of the campaign today guarantees wide coverage in Argentina. “Having the level of coverage at 94.8 percent of the estimated population, over 18 years of age, with its scheme initiated -says Castelli-, is a great advance. This influences the total population, since those under three years of age are not indicated. Thus, in the country as a whole we have 85.4 percent with a first dose, and 73.5 percent with an advanced scheme, in those over 18 years of age”. Those under 18 started in August, and in October the children started. “This is how the impact on the total population grew,” underlines the official.
“In week 54 of the calendar of this plan, 2,706,695 applied doses are computed, the highest figure in the entire campaign,” says Castelli. “When we reached two and a half million in June, we thought we were on a high ceiling. Today we can see in the count of each epidemiological week – they go from Saturday to Sunday – that the records of the first dose were 264,120 people aged 18 and over, in week 54 “.
“When you look at the last 8 weeks, you see 936,900 people who started their scheme in that period,” Castelli points out. “This speaks of the impact of the measures and how the campaign grows, that’s why we reached 95 percent coverage” in the estimated population. “That only 5 percent are missing, at the country level, is a great figure,” he emphasizes.
The increase is visible: in weeks 54 and 55 of the campaign, more people turned to start their scheme. “95 percent of those over 18 years of age with coverage indicate that 1,600,000 people need to be reached. 12 weeks ago it was more than 2 million. There are very few people left without vaccinating,” he synthesizes.
The importance of completing the scheme and accessing reinforcements does not minimize prevention. “Despite vaccination, which prevents hospitalization in the ICU and complex conditions, precautions must continue: masks and distance,” says Castelli. And he concludes: “This speaks very well of how, as a country, we understand what it is about taking care of ourselves.”