Zh. Bekshin: immunity against coronavirus after vaccination decreases, therefore revaccination is necessary
Sufficient collective immunity has not yet been formed in Almaty. At the same time, on November 22, a revaccination campaign will start in the metropolis. The Chief Sanitary Doctor of the city, Zhandarbek Bekshin announced this at a press conference at the Regional Communications Service.
By refusing to vaccinate a child, a parent deprives him of the right to health protection, guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and puts him at risk of getting sick with vaccine-preventable infections. By the way, all vaccinated adolescents, like adults, will receive a vaccination passport.
Despite the decline in morbidity, the epidemiological situation in Almaty remains tense. According to the Head of the Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control, over the past week, 1065 cases of COVID were registered among the townspeople (a week earlier there were 1398), over the past day - 146 new infections. The city is in the "yellow" zone of the matrix for assessing the epidemiological situation in the country.
According to Zhandarbek Bekshin, the coronavirus continues to circulate in the city, while unvaccinated citizens remain in a special risk zone. He noted that it is desirable to bring herd immunity to 80%, both by further vaccination of adults, and by the beginning of vaccination of adolescents from 12 years old, pregnant and lactating women.
"Let me remind you that collective immunity is the formation of a population stratum with immunity to the disease, sufficient to stop the further spread of infection. With the help of vaccination and revaccination, the infection will become controllable. So far, we have reached 56% of the immune layer. At the same time, only 0,1% of the population are vaccinated daily. With such a rate of herd immunity, at least 75%, we will reach only by May next year. Once again, I note that it is extremely dangerous to delay vaccination, "Bekshin shared.
The Chief Sanitary Doctor of Almaty emphasized, that in addition to increasing the rate of vaccination, citizens need to come for revaccination.
- This is an absolutely normal phenomenon in medicine, since all infections after having had them once, give unstable immunity. And for most vaccines, it becomes necessary to re-vaccinate after a certain time, - he said.
In the city, revaccination against coronavirus starts on November 22.
- You cannot do without revaccination, it helps to form collective immunity and will not allow further mutation of the virus, - Bekshin is convinced. - According to our observations, the level of antibodies in vaccinated people decreases over time in the period from 6 to 9 months, which means that the likelihood of the disease increases. Many countries are already actively pursuing revaccination campaigns. It is very important to use the booster vaccine for the elderly population, as in Almaty there is an almost 5 percent increase in infections among people over 60 years old. It is also very important to cover our schoolchildren with vaccinations.
According to the data of Almaty epidemiologists, this year, 2,680 cases were registered in the city after being vaccinated with two components of the vaccine, of which 360 people were ill again.
There is still a high risk of infection in shopping centers, public transport, and markets. This anti-rating includes facts of infection at work - more than 9% of cases.
We add that vaccination of schoolchildren, as well as pregnant women and women during lactation in the city's polyclinics starts in Almaty.