With the Covid-19 4-week positivity down to 1.78%, the Ministry of Public Health is now encouraging vulnerable persons to get the influenza vaccine. Health Minister Daniel Rivera says the government has a stock of 475,000 doses of vaccine that are available for free at vaccination centers. He said 125,000 doses are available for children from six months to two years of age.
Dr. Rivera during the Wednesday health press conference on 12 October 2022 urged that the elderly, pregnant women and people with health conditions get vaccinated against influenza to prevent complications if catching the virus. He said that healthcare workers should also be vaccinated.
In the last few weeks, the country’s health centers have started to report a significant increase in the number of patients with respiratory diseases caused mainly by Seasonal Influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2) and type B and respiratory syncytial virus.
The patients arrive to consultations and emergencies suffering from fever, headache and sore throat, cough, general malaise and in some cases, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Dr. Rivera spoke from Elías Piña on the border with Haiti. He urged people continue hygiene practices such as frequent washing of hands now that there is cholera again in Haiti. Some 319 cases of cholera are reported in Haiti, most concentrated in the Port-au-Prince area. A case of cholera has yet to be reported in the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Rivera said that as another preventive action, the Dominican Republic has received a donation of 10,000 doses of antibiotics to be on stock in case cholera crosses the border.
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Ministry of Public Health
Ministry of Public Health
El Dia
El Caribe
13 October 2022