The Minister of Health of the City of Buenos Aires, Fernan Quirós, evaluated this Saturday when he will make his “Break” the third wave of Covid that has plagued Argentina for weeks. After the country registered more than 200,000 cases in 48 hours, stated that the evolution of the contagion curve depends on two factors: the circulation of the new omicron variant and social behavior.
On the other hand, he analyzed the situation of antivacunas and sent a recommendation to Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who refuses to be immunized and generates controversy worldwide.
Before consultation in CNN Radio Regarding the record numbers of infected people who are reported daily in Argentina, Quirós said that “This is the evolution of the curve as it has happened in all the countries of the world when omicron has taken the lead with respect to the delta variant ”. However, he weighed the high rate of vaccinated and the milder symptoms caused by the South African strain as factors in favor of the national scenario.
“Argentina and the porteños in particular have a very high degree of vaccination. In the City, 86% have two doses and 23% are with reinforcements. That makes us have huge numbers of cases, but naturally with less seriousness and much less need for hospitalization “explained the official.
In this context, he evaluated the duration of the third wave of Covid and maintained that it might reach its peak of infections in a matter of weeks. Regarding the evolution of the infected curve, he warned: “In this pandemic we learned that the projections have certain degrees of inaccuracy, because they have to do with the type of variant, but also with social behavior ”.
Still, he predicted: “On the one hand, December has been a month of a lot of social interaction and January always has less. So there is a factor in favor of the curve making some break in January. On the other hand, the omicron variant that circulates today has a curve that is usually less wide., since their replication cycles are shorter. Both factors indicate that this curve should be less wide than the ones we have seen. We will see if [el quiebre] it occurs in January or between January and February ”.
In another part of the interview, Quirós was asked regarding the situation of antivacunas at the local level and if he considered it necessary that the immunization become obligatory eventually. Then he replied: “I think it is a debate for other countries. In the City, 95% started or completed their vaccination. The issue of anti-vaccines in the district is relatively small and does not significantly represent the gaze of society. I think it is a secondary debate, because here what happens most is that there are people who want to be vaccinated and are still planning to do so ”.
Next and then the decision to start applying boosters to all people who have been vaccinated with two doses more than four months ago, He said: “In the next 30 days, in Ciudad we will be able to do the catch up of the 700 thousand new people who are liable to be vaccinated and when we finish we will be able to discuss the issue of anti-vaccines ”. But he insisted: “It is something minor.”
Notwithstanding the observations made, the minister stressed the need for the vaccine sector to be “as small as possible” and gave a current example in the City to demonstrate the effectiveness of immunizers. “We know that even the omicron variant, the double vaccine lowered the risk of reaching intensive therapy by up to 90%. That explains why 5% of the adult porteños who have not been vaccinated use 65% of the intensive care beds “, he emphasized.
Finally, before the query on the case of the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who refuses to be vaccinated and might be deported from Australia for that reason, Quirós stated: “What I would tell you is that It is a bad example to be a benchmark at the international level and to be once morest an instrument that has saved millions of lives. in the world, beyond the fact that followingwards he has the right to do whatever he wants. That it does not become a flag, I would recommend him ”.
