Bivalent vaccines against covid-19 will arrive in Ecuador in June
The first batch of bivalent vaccines against covid-19 will arrive in Ecuador in June. The Ministry of Public Health (MSP) imported 300,000 doses of the formula that protects against Omicron, the predominant variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the world.
The purchase was made through the Covax system of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Francisco Pérez, Undersecretary of Health Surveillance, Prevention and Control, explains that through this route they plan to acquire another 500,000 doses for the last quarter of 2023.
“We have asked PAHO to help us with guidelines and the necessary steps to define whether the covid-19 vaccine can be included in the regular vaccination schedule , ” Pérez said. The doses that will arrive in a month are from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer / BioNTech.
Vaccines for risk groups
The MSP will meet with the Immunization Support Committee to define the risk groups for booster vaccination and the frequency of application of the doses against covid-19.
“The recommendation is that it be an annual and seasonal vaccine , to be applied between October and November, prior to the winter season, as is the case with influenza,” Pérez explained. The committee that will carry out this analysis is made up of academics, scientists, and members of PAHO and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Health personnel will continue to be part of vulnerable groups. Immunization for older adults will also be maintained , due to the risk of developing serious illness and death.
The bivalent vaccine guidelines include chronic patients (hypertensive, diabetic, renal failure) and patients with immunological problems. “It remains to be defined whether pregnant women are included in this prioritization.”
Ecuador still has doses of Sinovac , vaccines made under the original version of the virus. Pérez indicated that the monovalent formula prevents the development of serious disease, which is why they continue to apply it to health personnel and the elderly; it is also available for reinforcements . These vaccines expire in 2024.
Children would not be vulnerable
The WHO announced the end of the covid-19 health emergency in the world, but clarified that the virus continues to circulate. That is why Esteban Ortiz, a public health doctor, stresses the need to maintain immunization.
“Natural immunity is lost, because this virus changes so much that our body can’t figure out long-term protection.” Hence the urgency of applying bivalent doses , which protect against the Omicron variant.
To the already known vulnerable groups, Ortiz suggests adding children. The salubrist says that in the United States and England doses are applied from 6 months. “This does not happen in Ecuador and we have our children unprotected.”
According to an analysis of data from 2020 to 2021, carried out by the specialist, children under 1 year of age had the same mortality risk as an adult of 50. “Today I dare to say that the risk is greater, because the adult is already vaccinated and the child not”.
Vaccination against covid-19 in Ecuador was authorized from the age of 3. The Undersecretary of Surveillance explains that the repercussion of the virus among the pediatric population has not been high. For this reason, he advanced, “it will probably be excluded from the bivalent vaccine.”
At the beginning of this year, the country reported an increase in respiratory diseases in children. Coinfections (contagion with several viruses at the same time) increased pediatric hospitalizations in Quito.
Modern, interested in Ecuador
The process is pending. Moderna , through the pharmaceutical company Medicamenta Ecuatoriana , processes the approval of its bivalent vaccine against covid-19 in Ecuador. The certification is in charge of the National Agency for Sanitary Regulation, Control and Surveillance (Arcsa).
“We believe that it will be a matter of about five or six more months, it depends on how the health approval and regulation processes progress,” explained Cristian Velarde, manager of the Vaccine Business Unit of Medicamenta.
That is, until the end of 2023 the Moderna vaccine would have import authorization. “It will be made available to the different private health instances,” Velarde said.
Moderna ‘s monovalent formula has been widely used in the United States, where its base is located. Its efficacy, like other vaccines approved in the world, is linked to the rate of decrease in infections and mortality.