While there is a resurgence of Covid-19 on the Asian continent, in Colombia, more than two and a half years after the arrival of the pandemic, the goal of 70% vaccination, which is required by the Ministry of Health, has not yet been met. Health.
What seemed like it would not happen again, happened at the end of November 2022. Closure of factories, restaurants, stores, their isolated staff, closed parks and schools with virtual classes.
Quarantine and confinement are being experienced again due to a new wave of Covid-19 cases, but not in Colombia, but 15,507 kilometers away, in Beijing, the capital of China.
The statistic shows the number of deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2, popularly known as the Wuhan coronavirus, worldwide as of November 25, 2022.
Until that day, there were approximately 6.6 million deaths caused by the virus, of which 5,226 occurred in China, the place where this respiratory condition allegedly originated.
However, the Asian country is no longer the territory where the new coronavirus has claimed the most lives. The United States leads the ranking by exceeding one million deaths, followed by Brazil with around 689,400.

But while this is happening there, in the distance, in many towns in Colombia, especially in the Amazonian part of the country, the lack of vaccination by the population, after more than two and a half years after the arrival of the virus in this country South American, has prevented the goal of 70% vaccination in Colombia projected by the Ministry of Health from being met.

One of these populations in the Colombian Amazon is the department of Guaviare, where most of its inhabitants have applied only one dose against Covid-19, which is why the goal has not been met in this area of the country.
Lack of pedagogy
Naby Flórez, who in addition to being a health overseer for this population in Colombia, sells natural juices in one of the corners of the main park in San José de Guaviare, capital of the department that bears the same name, assures that, today, the lack of pedagogy and trust prevent the inhabitants from continuing to attend the vaccination points that are still working against Covid-19.
Naby Flórez, in addition to being a health overseer for the department, has a juice stand in the city. Photo: Juan Carlos Diaz.
“There is no confidence in the vaccine, since it is said on the streets that once applied, the person ends up with other things that they did not have before, which has generated mistrust. To this I add that the Ministry of Health has not insisted on visiting neighborhoods and sidewalks door to door in order to fully apply all the vaccines and thus prevent some from being lost, ”said the Health veedor.
For Naby Flórez, young people in the Colombian Amazon have not given it the importance of getting vaccinated against the virus, despite the fact that contagion has decreased.
«They feel healthy and the lack of pedagogy and communication with young people today is not applied to them, but despite the fact that schools were initially demanding it, the other young population has not paid attention to this,» said Naby. .
«Door-to-door pedagogy is needed»
Flórez, as a health vector, emphasizes the true responsibility of the State to demand that door-to-door pedagogy be carried out, so that people who have not yet been vaccinated do so.
Naby Flórez, in addition to being a health overseer for the department, has a juice stand in the city. Photo: Juan Carlos Diaz.
“There is no confidence in the vaccine, since it is said on the streets that once applied, the person ends up with other things that they did not have before, which has generated mistrust. To this I add that the Ministry of Health has not insisted on visiting neighborhoods and sidewalks door to door in order to fully apply all the vaccines and thus prevent some from being lost, ”said the Health veedor.
For Naby Flórez, young people in the Colombian Amazon have not given it the importance of getting vaccinated against the virus, despite the fact that contagion has decreased.
«They feel healthy and the lack of pedagogy and communication with young people today is not applied to them, but despite the fact that schools were initially demanding it, the other young population has not paid attention to this,» said Naby. .
«Door-to-door pedagogy is needed»
Flórez, as a health vector, emphasizes the true responsibility of the State to demand that door-to-door pedagogy be carried out, so that people who have not yet been vaccinated do so.

“People have to spend time, so that they understand that this is something that should interest us in terms of health, because when applying the vaccine it is not that they will not get covid-19. It is a prevention”, pointed out Naby Flórez.
It should be noted that the biggest problem currently present, not only in this region but in Colombia, is that there are more than 870,000 vaccines against Covid-19 that are going to be lost because they are not applied.
Young
One of the problems that the authorities face in meeting the vaccination goal in Colombia is that young people do not want to be vaccinated. Two and a half years after the arrival of the virus in the country, the health authorities of San José del Guaviare continue to battle against the perception that Covid is a closed case.
In this region of the country, it is not the exception; here there are also many vaccines that are about to expire their expiration date.
In one of the human settlements of San José de Guaviare, called Arazá, where close to five thousand displaced people from different regions of this Amazon region live, Miller Medellín lives, the departmental youth counselor of this city, warns that young people are very reluctant to get vaccinated because there are many paradigms that arise in the midst of this process.
Paradigms on vaccination in Colombia
“One (of the paradigms) is that through the vaccine against Covid-19, a virus is being applied that will have an impact on our health over time and the other paradigm is that it is a robbery of the national government,” warns Miller.

Precisely, given the lack by the authorities of San José del Guaviare of more precise information on the consequences that not being vaccinated against the covid-19 virus can bring, Miller calls for other strategies to be implemented so that young people get vaccinated against the virus.
“It is a call to the health authorities to implement other strategies that are more pedagogical and more dynamic so that young people can receive adequate information and that they can also know the problems, the cons, the benefits, the non-benefits, and the disadvantages. ”, review.
Many young people did not complete the vaccination scheme in Colombia
And, he adds, referring to his only applied dose: “It was only that dose because many told me one thing and others told me that it was fine; there were divided opinions about what vaccination is: some think it is a bad thing, and others think it is a good thing.» Miller stressed.
Another young man from this Amazonian area of Colombia, who did not want to identify himself, assured that the covid-19 vaccine was applied to care for his family.
“I applied the vaccine, which is a single dose, but I did it, in reality, to take care of the family and also as a requirement because they demanded it practically everywhere. I have to apply a reinforcement, but so far I have not applied it ”, revealed the young man.
For her part, a young woman from this town of San José del Guaviare assured that the vaccine was applied because she needed the card for the university.
“Yes, it seems to me that it is a duty that we all must take care of ourselves and take care of others, so it seems important to me to apply the vaccine because many of us have families with older adults and, well, one goes out on the street and unconsciously puts the elderly at risk. relatives for not taking precautions and for not taking care of themselves,» the woman said.
High abstention in vaccination in Colombia
The political class of this Amazonian area of Colombia maintains that, despite the efforts made and are still being made by the health authorities, the level of abstention is too high for the community to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
“The departmental and municipal health secretariats of Guaviare have made a significant effort in the matter of taking the vaccines to different areas with vaccination points and campaigns that are still being maintained, so that people are vaccinated against covid-19, but the The level of abstention is very high», commented the Deputy.
However, he also affirms that people are afraid of side effects and that is why they do not go to get vaccinated, as well as for religious reasons.
For the politician, at this time, the requirement of the card should be an option to pressure people to complete the vaccination scheme in Colombia, despite the fact that the most critical part of the pandemic has ended.

Deputy Alexander Cifuentes. San Jose del Guaviare. Photo: Courtesy of Deputy Alexander Cifuentes.»I would think that it is not the appropriate mechanism, but it is necessary to start demanding the issue of the cards in the different instances, in the different public procedures, in different accesses to dependencies and entities, as an option of pressure so that people attend the vaccination, understanding that the percentage of covid-19 in the department of Guaviare is very low. If it is necessary to take precautions and take advantage of this issue of vaccines that exist and are available to save lives ”, concluded the deputy Alexander Cifuentes.
The pandemic in figures
As of June 12, 2022, around 6.3 million people have died worldwide as a result of covid-19.
While in Asia, the continent where the outbreak originated, the death toll amounted to around 1.3 million people, deaths in Europe exceed that figure by more than 690,000 people.
Specifically, there have been approximately two million deaths from coronavirus in the old continent. However, it is no longer the continent with the highest number of deaths from covid-19. The figure recorded in America already exceeds 2.7 million deaths that day.
It should be remembered that the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease (covid-19) that occurred in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province, China.
On January 30, 2020, the WHO Director-General declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in accordance with the International Health Regulations (2005).
The first case in the Americas region was confirmed in the United States on January 20, 2020, and Brazil reported the first case in Latin America and the Caribbean on February 26, 2020.
Also read: The health system in Colombia consolidated its installed capacity due to Covid – 19
Colombia in figures
As of today, Colombia registers 6,318,021 confirmed cases; 3,582 active cases; 6,142,640 recovered and 141,911 deceased from covid-19.

As of November 30, 2022, in Colombia, the total doses applied against Covid add up to 75,642,673. The Ministry of Health ensures that the PCR tests processed as of December 1 are around 21,498,597, of which 4,836,873 are positive and 16,661,724 negative.
A study by the Ceinfes research group of the Research Center, entitled General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and which has been validated by the World Health Organization (WHO), interviewed more than 1,350 Colombian youth between the ages of 12 and 17. Years of age this 2022, in order to determine how this population feels about their mental health.
«While 30% of the young people surveyed have problems concentrating well on the activities they carry out, more than 70% have seen their sleep habits affected due to concerns related to covid-19,» the study says.
It should be added that, after the pandemic, depression and anxiety disorders increased by 25% globally. «Six out of ten people in the world suffer from anxiety or depression, while, in total, there are about 1,000 million people worldwide who suffer from some mental illness,» the letter reports.
The ghost that haunts Colombia
The Colombian Ombudsman’s Office called on the public to once again take biosafety measures into account on a day-to-day basis, after the increase in positive cases registered in recent days.
In the last three weeks of November 2022, there has been a considerable increase in covid-19 cases. The number increased from 600 cases to 700 in the last two weeks, reaching more than 2,000 cases in the past week.
It is important to remember that, if you register any respiratory symptoms, when going to a closed place, you should visit a hospital.
In the same way, the Ombudsman’s Office reiterated that the National Vaccination Plan in Colombia is still in force for people who must complete their schemes. The Ministry of Health reported that the country has sufficient doses of the covid-19 vaccine, both to start or complete schemes, including each of the reinforcements that supplement the vaccination plan against the disease.
The Ombudsman’s Office reiterates that in the face of covid-19 people who have comorbidities are over 60 years of age or minors. They belong to the population groups that could be most affected by this virus, so the call is for these people to complete their vaccination scheme in Colombia.
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