As flu season approaches, Dr. Jorge Vidargas Rojas, director of Sanitary Jurisdiction II of the Guanajuato Department of Hygiene, explains that the free vaccination campaign in San Miguel de Allende has begun. 

 

The campaign commenced during the first days of October, just before the start of the November-December virus season and prioritizes San Miguel de Allende’s most at-risk population: children younger than age 5, the elderly, and people with chronic, degenerative physical conditions. 

 

Seasonal influenza can be fatal to high-risk groups, and with the Sars-CoV-2 or coronavirus pandemic still in force, the illness represents an even larger threat. For this reason, the CAISES health center will run the vaccination campaign from October 1st until December 31st 2020. 

 

Dr. Vidargas Rojas recommends making use of this campaign in October, one month before the start of the flu season, as the vaccine takes 21 days to generate immunity. 

 

According to Dr. Vidargas Rojas, the San Miguel community will count on a lot of 30 to 35 thousand vaccine doses, with first priority given to high-risk groups, and a second round open to all. 

 

As for the effectiveness of a coronavirus vaccine, he states there is no certainty with regard to the immunological responses a coronavirus vaccine may generate, as Covid-19 is still being studied. “We don’t know, we are just getting to know [the virus] and are unsure of how it will behave in October and November.”

 

CAISES will announce where the vaccine will be available though the radio and on its official Facebook page: Caises San Miguel de Allende.

 

The flu vaccine’s commercial value runs from 2,000 to 4,000 MXN pesos. The vaccines offered through this campaign are free of charge.