Photo: ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP / Getty Images
The third wave of COVID – 19 in Mexican territory affects in a greater proportion young and unvaccinated, with an average age of cases of 38 years and 50 years for hospitalized patients, the Government warned this Tuesday, which has defended its vaccination plan.
Mexico registered 68, 637 infections last week, a weekly increase in new cases greater than 36%, while deaths are approaching a average of 200 per day, according to official data from the Ministry of Health (SSa).
Following the July peaks of 2020 and last January, Mexico is experiencing its third wave of infections for a month, accumulating now Ra 2. 66 million cases and more than 236, 000 deaths, the fourth highest figure in the world.
“We can see that the age distribution (of the cases) has covered six or seven years, today it is predominantly affecting young people,” warned Hugo López-Gatell, undersecretary of Prevention and Promotion of Health and in charge of managing the pandemic in the country.
But unlike before, when the most vulnerable were adults older than 60 years, now the average age of deaths is 59 years, argued López-Gatell.
“Most of the people who are hospitalized for covid at this time are already people under 52 years and the vast majority are pe People who were not vaccinated, this is more than 97% ”, said the official.
High vaccination ‘coverage’
The undersecretary has stated that Mexico is “A country with high vaccination coverage”, with 38. 5 million people who have received at least one dose, the 43% of the adult population.
However, there is only 21 .5 million people with the complete immunization scheme in Mexico, where there are 126 million inhabitants .
Even so, the Government has opted for the vaccine and ruled out greater restrictions, despite the fact that 5 of the 32 States are already on yellow alert for hospitalization greater than 50%, led by Mexico City with 59% occupancy, followed by Sinaloa, Nayarit, Baja California Sur and Hidalgo.
“We have one society, of course, tired, fatigued, of having these long months of epidemic, what one can ask of society in terms of reduced mobility is not the same today as it was in February of 2020 ”, López-Gatell justified.
Broad portfolio
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard trusted that Mexico will exceed the 80 million vaccines received at the end of July after two consecutive weeks with more than 6 million units received.
In addition, it announced the forthcoming emergency approval of the drugs from the American company Moderna and the Chinese company Sinopharm, which are added to those already approved by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sputnik V, Sinovac, Covaxin and Janssen from Johnson & Johnson.
“We have one of the largest portfolios in the world,” said the Secretary of Foreign Relations.
The Chancellor reiterated that Mexico will press the G meeting 20 in October to expand global vaccine distribution, promote a fair and inclusive recovery, and strengthen cooperation to prevent future pandemics.
Delayed vaccination
As the third wave accelerates, the Government of Mexico has faced criticism for the lag between the vaccines received and those administered.
Although the country has received almost 75 million doses, only r eport the application of 55. 1 million.
Undersecretary López-Gatell recognized a gap of 19. 5 million, but said that it is a registration problem because the system takes time to capture the drugs applied in regions far from the main urban centers.
“There is no lost vaccine, this type of slander, defamation, I do not know what purposes it has, obviously not very noble, and there is a slower registration process,” he declared.
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