Health will not increase restrictive measures during Christmas

Santo Domingo, DR

The Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, informed yesterday that “Covid-19 is calm,” so no new restrictive measures will be added to prevent the spread of the disease during the Christmas holidays.

“Thanks to the medical work, thanks to the people who got vaccinated, we are going to have a quiet Christmas,” said the official.

Rivera reiterated his call to continue with the vaccination, especially with regard to the third anticovid dose and in the population over 18 years of age.

The official indicated that the vaccination with the booster dose, or third dose, increases the protection of people “40 times.”

In opposition
On the contrary, the recently sworn-in president of the Dominican Medical Association, Dr. Rufino Senén Caba, considers that the authorities should establish limits for Christmas, to avoid contagions. “Many measures should have been taken, to be more punitive in the use of masks, in the requirement of the vaccination card and to start with all the house to house,” specified the internist and intensivist.

New wave forecast
Regarding the estimates of some health specialists, among them Dr. José Rafael Yunen, who say that there will be a new wave of contagions between January and February of next year, Rivera explained that the virus is activated every eight weeks.

Rivera exemplified that just as the Delta variant was presented and was “well controlled… we have to be vaccinated for the new variants that may come.”

Yunen affirmed that the Dominican Republic has all the conditions to foresee the emergence of a new wave of the Covid-19 virus for January and February of next year, according to the predictive models and the behavior of the pandemic.

The critical care specialist based his warning on the fact that more than half of the vaccinated people in the country have been vaccinated more than six months after the second dose, whose effectiveness decreases after that time, and the population with third or booster doses is still very low.

The minister made these statements as he was leaving the swearing-in ceremony of the new board of directors of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD).

There is another strong possibility that the as-yet, still mild but highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid could infect many people and begin a proper herd immunity. This would be the best outcome, of course. However, in the meantime use of masks, social distancing, good hygiene, and common sense are the best measures against the virus, vaccinated or not.

Inauguration
Precisely, at the ceremony of the handover of the board of directors now headed by Dr. Senén Caba, Rivera promised to “continue to work on the road to create a great alliance in favor of demanding a more dignified health.”

He was the winner
The incoming president, who was the winner in the elections of the physicians’ union on November 10, will hold office for the period 2021-2023.