Vaccination against measles, hepatitis, rubella and yellow fever for children, enabled 300 points in Bogotá

The District Health Secretariat reported that Bogotá has set up 300 vaccination points in public and private IPS, shopping centers, public and private schools and parks, according to age and receive the additional dose of measles, hepatitis, rubella, yellow fever and other diseases.

“Nearly 400,000 children between the ages of 2 and 11 are currently waiting to receive the additional dose of the measles-rubella vaccine, as well as 32,000 children under 6 years of age pending vaccination against other diseases,” he said on Twitter.

It also called on “all parents and caregivers of minors aged 2 to 11 to catch up on their vaccines according to age and receive the additional dose of measles, hepatitis, rubella, yellow fever and other diseases”.

The entity emphasizes that “children and adolescents who are not vaccinated are at greater risk of getting sick or dying from diseases such as measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, Covid-19 and yellow fever, which are preventable by vaccination”.

According to the entity with the authorization of these points, Colombia joins the great Vaccination Week of the Americas, which is led by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), together with the countries and territories of the Region of the Americas, and seeks to intensify the regular immunization of children and adolescents and thus avoid diseases that are preventable with vaccination.

“Vaccines should begin at birth and end for the most part by the age of two. By vaccinating children early (before age two), you can protect them from infection and prevent them from spreading them to other children in school or day care. Children under the age of six are very susceptible to illness because their immune system has not developed the necessary defenses to fight infections,” explained the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.

And he added that “mainly, that you don't have enough protection. If, for example, the vaccine protects 95% of the disease, when a dose is missing it only protects about 70%. In these cases, it is best to put the missing dose as soon as possible. Even if it's been a year, it's not necessary to start over.”

It should be noted that some countries have re-emerged diseases such as poliomyelitis and measles, creating the risk of new pandemics.

“The follow-up (additional dose) vaccination campaign has a major impact on closing immunization gaps that would otherwise worsen as populations increase in age where it becomes more complex to identify effective ways to reach them with vaccines. The campaign is therefore an essential part of the Expanded Programme on Immunization and must be implemented on an ongoing basis to close the gap in susceptible populations,” said the Portfolio.

And “I point out that this vaccination campaign is particularly important at this time when immunization programs have been affected during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the fact that vaccination services have been maintained throughout the country.”