The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) president, Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero, says that all the attention is on Covid-19 vaccinations. He says the normal vaccination campaigns are affected, as reported in N Digital.
Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero reported on 8 April 2021 on ten deaths for diphtheria in children at the Robert Reid Cabral Hospital so far this year. The children were two to nine years old.
The cases affect residents in Baní (one case), Neiba (one), San Cristóbal (two), Monte Plata (five) and Greater Santo Domingo (one).
Dr. Suero said the outbreak of the disease is a consequence of the inistry of Public Health and the families of the children paying attention only to Covid-19. He said the regular implementation of the vaccination programs established for this infectious disease are being neglected.
“The Medical Association calls on Dominican families that regardless of the Covid-19 disease, they should religiously take their children to be vaccinated, to avoid this and other preventable diseases,” he said.
Diphtheria is an epidemic acute infectious disease caused by the protein exotoxin produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Klebs-Löffler bacillus).
The Ministry of Public Health issued a diphtheria epidemiological warning. The Ministry said the diphtheria samples were sent to the US Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia for confirmation. Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
8 April 2021