During this Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Health (Minsal) ruled out a possible expansion of influenza vaccination for the general population.
It is worth remembering that since last March, the Government has been implementing an active campaign so that those so-called “risk” groups receive vaccination against the disease.
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However, this day the Undersecretary of Public Health, Andrea Albagliin the Senate Health Commission assured that the vaccination campaign “it is still only for target groups.”
Vaccination against influenza: the reasons of the Minsal for not expanding inoculation to the entire population
In the instance, Undersecretary Albagli stated that “There is no country that offers influenza vaccination to the general population”, according to La Tercera.
“This is not something that is recommended by the WHO nor is it a common practice.”In fact, Chile already exceeds the WHO recommendations in terms of the target population to whom the State must guarantee access to vaccination,” added the Health authority.
In this context, the Undersecretary of Public Health explained that in Chile those children and adults that the WHO recommends are vaccinated “thereforethe vaccination decision remains only for target groups. Influenza vaccination has not been opened to the general population,” Albagli emphasized.
Regarding the possibility of expanding vaccination to the rest of the population, the undersecretary reported that from the Minsal “We are always evaluating. As a health authority we cannot rule out the measures, but at this moment, with the epidemiological scenario as we are observing it, there is nothing that tells us that the solution is to offer influenza vaccination in an expanded way to the general population,” the authority.
