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“Civility and common sense must intervene in this equation to avoid scenes that, not because they are distant, we have wanted to forget”
Catalonia, Spain, Europe suffer the “worst flu epidemic” of the last 15 years. That is to say, there were times just as bad or worse than the present, but we already know that we like to compare to give greater relevance to any data. Long live catastrophism!
Experts rely on statistics to argue that, in effect, we are facing “the worst flu epidemic” in recent years, given that infections are skyrocketingespecially among all groups under 45 years of age. and there is more hospitalized.
However, they also agree that the H3N2 strain K It is not necessarily more annoying or dangerous than the flu of previous seasons. Be that as it may, this epidemic has arrived with virulence, before its time… and by surprise.
The arrival of the flu was expected, yes, and, for this reason, the Generalitat prepared a successful unprecedented vaccination plan, without appointment, to facilitate inoculations and increase immunity, despite the protests by healthcare workers over peak work. This has helped contain the virus in its early stages.
The surprise has come with the rapid and many mutations of the flu, for which we were not prepared. There is no vaccine for the K strain. The doses that are being inoculated carry the formula of previous influenzas, those that were expected. And now what?
The same specialists say two things. The first, that you have to get vaccinated anyway; The second, related to this, is that vaccination, even with a less effective formula, does reduces possible complications in case of contagion.
To date, in Catalonia, two out of every three people over 80 years of age have already been vaccinated, as well as half of septuagenarians. In children under five years of age, the percentage reaches 38. They are the so-called risk groups.
But, although cases have skyrocketed among minors, they have also risen in the population between 15 and 44 years old, which is not in the suggested vaccination range.
In this scenario, Catalonia anticipates and recover the masks in health centers and residences, as this medium advanced. But civility and common sense must intervene in this equation to avoid scenes that, not because they are distant, we have wanted to forget.
