Doctor José Joaquín Puello considers vaccination against COVID-19 should be mandatory

The director of neurology at the Cardio-Neuro-Ophthalmology and Transplant Center, Dr. José Joaquín Puello, said Friday that he believes vaccination against coronavirus disease should be mandatory in the Dominican Republic.

“I believe that vaccination should be mandatory. When a child is born in the Dominican Republic, obviously he or she must be vaccinated, otherwise he or she can die of diphtheria, measles… and vaccination is practically obligatory in childhood, and now that we are in a war against the coronavirus, I think it should be obligatory,” said the doctor when he was interviewed on the Uno + Uno program.

Regarding the requirement to transfer a patient to a COVID-19 unit of any public center, Joaquín Puello indicated that a physician must necessarily refer it because that is who gives the person’s clinical history.

“It means that, if one has a patient infected at home, he must go to the nearest clinic or hospital, which diagnoses the possibility that he has covid-19 and secondly the probability that this contagion is producing some important damage that endangers his life, that doctor examines him, that is what is called triage,” he explained.

Peña believes that it is a clinical crime not to open more covid-19 beds.

He added that people who need an available bed for a family member or friend suffering from the disease claimed the lives of 3,618 people in the country could call 829-521-1042, with Dr. Cristian de Leon. The latter is in charge of receiving emergency calls in the metropolitan area.

The daily positivity continues to increase in the Dominican Republic, and this Friday is 27.10%. In comparison, that of the last four weeks is 14.33%, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health in bulletin number 435.

It also indicates that after having processed 6,418 tests to detect the disease, 1,254 cases were positive in the last 24 hours.

The health authorities reported three deaths, one of which occurred during this period. The lethality rate is 1.25%, and mortality per million people is 346.75.

Public Health indicates that the country has 47,050 active cases out of a total of 289,288 registered. In this report, the authorities suggest that 238,615 patients have recovered, and 1,246,436 cases have been discharged.