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Mexico has the best vaccination scheme in Latin America

In Mexico, mandatory vaccination is still debated, yet raising awareness among parents will lead to the eradication and elimination of various diseases

Nurseries and public schools throughout Mexico demand the national vaccination card prior to enrollment, allowing a closer monitoring, yet this does not happen in private institutions, which entails the risk of infections – Photo: File photo/EL UNIVERSAL
10/11/2017 |17:30
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The Research Coordinator at the General Hospital of Mexico ( Hospital General de México ), Carmen Espinoza , assured that Mexico has one of the most complete vaccination schemes in Latin America , which allows to reduce and control very important diseases among the population, such as influenza , dengue , and cervical cancer .

In the 17th Latin American Congress of Pediatric Infectology ( XVII Congreso Latinoamericano de Infectología Pediátrica ), the importance of vaccination for the population in general and not only for children or the elderly was highlighted, since future public health depends on it.

Carmen Espinoza stressed that Mexico is one of the countries that has benefited greatly from vaccines as a result of the vaccination cards divided by age group implemented by the National Health System ( Sistema Nacional de Salud ) since 2015 , a very important decision to reduce the number of diseases caused by bacterias and viruses.

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She emphasized that Mexico is the only country in Latin America that has been in the four phases of the dengue vaccine and it is the first nation that licensed the inoculation of this disease in the world because when applied to the population between nine and forty-five years 95% coverage was achieved.

However, the specialist recognized that the proximity with the United States does not benefit the vaccination in several northern states since doctors there use the inoculation scheme used in the U.S.

It should be noted that nurseries and public schools throughout Mexico demand the national vaccination card prior to enrollment, allowing a closer monitoring, yet this does not happen in private institutions, which entails the risk of infections.

Carmen Espinoza acknowledged that in Mexico mandatory vaccination is still debated, but she explained that raising awareness among parents, since there are several anti-vaccine groups in the country, will lead to the eradication and elimination of various diseases.

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