Low vaccination rate in the over-65s triggered the wave of contagions in China

Catalan epidemiologists compare the situation that the Asian giant is experiencing now with the situation that Catalonia experienced in July 2020, two months after the house confinement, when he had to confine again (this time perimetrically) the Segrià region and the Barcelona metropolitan area due to the increase in the number of contagions.

For the first time in months, the scientific advisory committee of covid-19 in Catalonia has met this Monday at the dawn of the epidemiological situation of the Asian giant. The body advocates for to maximize epidemiological vigilance from possible new variants to emerge. But experts are especially calling for further progress on the fourth doses, whose coverage in Spain and Catalonia is still low.

In Catalonia, it is 55% among those over 60 years of age, an “improvable” percentage, as recognized this Monday by the Secretary of Public Health, Carmen Cabezas, on Catalunya Ràdio. “Vaccination coverage was very good in Spain, but there has been a growing perception that the pandemic is over. Vaccine coverages right now are not optimal: it’s very important to to improve the fourth doses.” notes on the other hand Joan Caylà, member of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE). Caylà recalls that, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in the first half of 2022 in Spain some 20,000 people by covid-19, a virus that remains “more deadly than influenza”.

In addition, physicians are also calling for making more use of the antivirals to treat covid-19 in the most severe patients admitted to hospitals and ICUs. Two are currently used: the remdesivir and the paxlovid. The use of the latter is lower, as it has many interactions with other drugs. But experts emphasize in that paxlovid is being used less than it should bealthough it is very effective especially in the first five days from the onset of symptoms and greatly decreases the severe illness.