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The INS assured that the variant of greatest concern in the world continues to be omicron, which it also circulates in a dominant way and represents almost all the sequences reported to the databases globally, mainly GISAID.
“Sars-CoV-2, as we already know, is constantly evolving and this generates new mutations that could change the characteristics of the virus. For this reason, strict monitoring and genomic surveillance are maintained by the National Institute of Health”, assured Giovanny Rubiano García, director of the INS.
Since February 17, the circulation of EG.5 has been reported in Indonesia (34.0%), South Korea (21.0%), the United States (21.0%), Australia (19.0%) and China (2.0%). In South America, circulation of this variant is registered in countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite the fact that EG.5 is not a predominant variant and has not generated an increase in cases of contagion, specialists insist on the importance of continuing with vaccination.
The Ministry of Health highlights that the average monthly doses applied this year is 149,878, with a downward trend, so the experts reaffirm the need to complete vaccination schedules and continue applying booster doses in the prioritized population. Especially during the waves of respiratory diseases that extend throughout the year.
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For this reason, infectious disease specialist Carlos Álvarez assures that all covid-19 vaccines save lives, as they reduce the risk of hospitalization or death. “It is important to complete schemes from 6 months of age and in the case of the most vulnerable population, that is to say that they have delicate clinical conditions such as obesity, arterial hypertension, cancer, diabetes and the clinical condition of the pregnancy, it is necessary that they receive the additional dose to the one we already know”, he assured.
Likewise, Rubiano stressed that “the important thing is to remember that regardless of the variant that is in greater circulation, the protection measures that we already know are still very effective when we have respiratory symptoms. Older adults, people with special conditions of health and avoid visiting them if we have the flu, wear masks, wash our hands frequently and keep our vaccination schedule up to date”.
It should be noted that several service points are enabled throughout the country and in all cities so that people complete their schemes and protect themselves from this and other respiratory diseases.
