COVID-19 This is no longer an international health emergency. (although the coronavirus is still around us) and after more than three years of restrictions, this summer is finallyand a return to normal life, in addition, in a big way. Flight bookings, hotel bookings, tour packages, traffic volume… all indications that people are back on the streets and also traveling, in a big way, confirm this. Also quantity Valencians who decide to get vaccinated go abroadespecially to some exotic place.
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Only in the 17 international vaccination points that Valencian hospitals have (not counting the three points of the Ministry of Health, which have a large number of appointments), the number of people has almost doubled comparing with the previous year. If 3,753 Valencians were vaccinated between January and July 2022, then on the same dates this year There were 6911 of them, and the season is not over yet.
This renewed desire to see the world of the Valencians had a first logical consequence: vaccination services are at their limit again. “All services They are still full and make appointments for a month or a month and a half of viewing“, points John Francis NavarroHead of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Elks General University Hospital (the service on which these vaccination points depend) and President of the Valencian Society for Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Svmpsp).
Making an appointment is difficult but that was already from before the summer. At the beginning of June, as this newspaper was able to verify, at the vaccination point of the Ministry of Health in the port of Valencia The watch is already sold out until the end of August and in the 17 locations with which the Valencia health system cooperates (in the same number of hospitals), the delay was also “between one and two months” depending on the hospital called.
Preparation for work of vaccines
And that’s a problem because immunization takes some time. “No vaccine is effective until at least two weeks after administration,” Navarro notes, so it is important to plan to help these resources, which the specialist says is “unusual.” “I would say that a smaller proportion of those who come are those who have a trip planned. and they arrive early enough,” he notes. And, of course, emergency services arrive “at a service that is not considered one because they may have managed to get a last-minute ride. And in order not to leave anyone without attention, it is always supplied with a victimthere’s always a gap to make sure the person doesn’t leave without being vaccinated.”
To make it good Do not arrive at the last moment or make an appointment a few days before the flight departure. The more exotic the destination, the more vaccinations are recommended, and some there are two doses which are to be delayed in their administration or are not expected to be effective until this minimum period of two weeks has elapsed. Immunization is only mandatory when traveling to certain countries (for example, against yellow fever when visiting the Congo or Ivory Coast, among others), but for a destination as common as Thailand, vaccination “recommendations” follow each other.
Thus, those who have not done so should be vaccinated against hepatitis A, as well as immunized against typhoid fever, which is associated with “poor hygienic conditions” in food preparation, and constantly update the tetanus card. In addition, and depending on where you are going to go or according to the activities that will be held in Thailand, the expertsThey may also recommend hepatitis B vaccination or preventive treatment for malaria. And this whole protocol takes time.
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Demand for additional resources to achieve everything
An avalanche of work could be expected this summer, but according to the President of the Valencian Society for Preventive Medicine, John Navarrotravel abroad”It is no longer just a strange thing that a few did, we have become something that has been incorporated into everyday life.“Therefore, it requires more funds to take on the burden, which increases and also persists throughout the year and is not compensated by the ministry.” tropization of all directions will increase the threat of infectious diseases, you have to do it right,” insists Navarro, who complains about the lack of resources and compensation to provide the service.
Today, Valencians have twenty different immunization sites before departure: three vaccination sites in Castello, Valencia and Alicante, which the Ministry of Health has, and 17, which the Ministry of Health provides in many public hospitals. This network has just grown since this summer the hospitals Requena and Torrevieja. “And there is more to be added. Ideally, all patients should have such a resource in their health department,” says public health specialist Juan Navarro.