National influenza vaccination day begins with more than 400 thousand doses available

Santo Domingo — The Ministry of Public Health announced a national influenza vaccination day, during which more than 400,000 doses will be available at more than 1,350 vaccination centers nationwide.

At the announcement, made at the San Francisco de Asís Home, Minister of Health Víctor Atallah said the initiative aims to protect the population, especially the most vulnerable, from the complications this respiratory disease can cause.

Among the priority groups are adults over 75 years of age, people with chronic diseases, pregnant women, and children from 6 months to 35 months, because they are among the most affected by influenza.

To cover the vaccines, the government had at least $775,000, according to the minister.

The authorities also explained that visits will be made to care homes to bring the vaccines directly to their residents and facilitate access to immunization, which is completely free.

“Health is shared. If you are not going to get it, the vaccine stays there, the flu sticks to you, and you can have the complications of a disease that is totally preventable,” said the minister.

The official recalled that vaccination against influenza should be carried out annually, because protection decreases over time and variants of the virus can change from season to season.

“There are some vaccines that have a time of action; This is one of them. Not only because it has a limited time, but also because there are new strains, there are new varieties of the virus that are coming out,” he said.

He also insisted that being vaccinated the previous year does not replace the immunization for the new season, so he urged people in the priority groups to receive the updated dose.

He added that the vaccine selected for the country aims to address the variants that pose the greatest risk to the Dominican population.

“In our country, we bring the one that best suits our population and the one that will cover the largest number of varieties for this country,” he said.

In this sense, he urged those who received the vaccine last year to complete their immunization again today.

At the opening of the vaccination day, the official also addressed the situation of leptospirosis and assured that it has been kept under control over the last six weeks.

He explained that the floods registered in Puerto Plata, which affected several homes and a hospital center, were associated with an increase.

Referring to the risks during the floods, he noted that some people were exposed to contact with contaminated water without adequate protection.

“We said it multiple times, there is a flood, they got into the rivers barefoot, they walked barefoot, and we had all the measures in place,” he said.

The minister insisted that vaccination is a key preventive measure to reduce the risk of complications from influenza, especially among the most vulnerable people.