Authorities announce expansion of bivalent vaccination to new groups: find out who is being incorporated

Health Minister Ximena Aguilera reported today that, as of Monday, January 16, the bivalent vaccination program against COVID-19 will be expanded to incorporate new at-risk groups. 

The minister stated, “in line with the request of expert committees and different opinions that have been provided to us, as well as data from the epidemiological analysis that we have carried out, we have decided to expand the groups to be vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine, starting from Monday, January 16, with people over 50 years of age.” 

A number of vaccination target groups will also be incorporated, joining those with chronic diseases, overweight and obese people, and health personnel, all of whom are already being inoculated. 

The new target groups that will be incorporated from Monday will be: 

• People with severe and profound disabilities (registered on the national disability registry). 
• Carers of dependent patients (preferential law). 
• People in closed centers: SENAME or associated centers, and mental health establishments. 
• Officials who carry out critical functions in the state administration system: the 24 ministries, the judiciary and legislature, regional governments and municipalities. 
• Personnel who carry out essential functions directly attending the public: FONASA, ISAPRE, IPS, AFP, Civil Registry, Chile Atiende, COMPIN, Banco Estado, CCAF, SAG, Airports, Bus Terminals, Ports, regional ministerial secretary personnel and health service personnel. 
• Personnel who carry out essential functions directly attending the public in community pharmacies (communal and private). 
• Laboratory personnel (university and private). 
• Law enforcement, security and Armed Forces personnel. 
• Personnel working in ONEMI, CONAF and the Fire Department. 
• Kindergarten teachers and others working in nurseries and kindergartens. 
• Teachers and directors working in preschool, basic and secondary education establishments. 
• Prison service personnel and prisoners. 
• People who carry out essential functions in basic service companies: electricity, water, gas, telecommunications, power generation, fuel distributors, household waste collection, sanitary landfills, chemical and pharmaceutical product manufacturing, funeral homes and cemeteries. 
• Personnel working in transport companies: land, air and sea. 
• People working in the transport of critical products: food, clinical supplies and medicines. 
• Other population groups defined by Health Ministry authorities. 

“We hope that the offer of this bivalent vaccine, which has an excellent range of protection for severe courses of the disease, will be an opportunity that people will take up. We are going to reinforce our vaccination campaign for this, and we think that it’s very good news for those who want to continue taking care of themselves,” Minister Aguilera stated. 

Self-care 

Minister Aguilera insisted that it is key that the people who are eligible for the fourth booster dose, as well as the target population for the bivalent vaccine, go and get inoculated. People should of course always follow preventative measures. 

“We want to put out a strong call to people to get vaccinated and take advantage of this time in which we have not had a large number of serious situations, despite the fact that we have had a slight increase in cases; but that is precisely because of the vaccination program and, for the same reason, the population has to get vaccinated,” the country’s health minister stated. 

“The pandemic is not over and we have to learn to live with this virus (…) fortunately, thanks to the vaccination program and the precautions that people have taken, it has not resulted in stress on hospitals and there has not been a very strong increase in the use of beds, which is what interests us in particular,” she indicated. 

Minister Aguilera added, “it’s very important that, seeing what is happening in the northern hemisphere and particularly in China, we have decided to extend the health alert to have all the tools at hand in case we have to change the phase that we are in, for example, which we don’t anticipate doing at the moment.” 

Head of Epidemiology at the Health Ministry, Christian García, indicated that SARS-CoV-2 is a “disease that is difficult to predict, and infections can increase and decrease successively. That is why it is essential to maintain self-care measures and that the entire population are up to date with their vaccination scheme.” 

He therefore stressed that it is very important that we all continue to take care of ourselves. We must keep closed spaces ventilated at all times, prioritize outdoor activities and wash our hands frequently. He also reminded that the use of facemasks is mandatory for those who go to health centers with patient care. This measure is also still recommended for people with respiratory symptoms, those who are in care homes, in places where there are a lot of people and on public or private collective transport. 

“It is essential that people who present symptoms related to the disease wear a facemask and are quickly tested to confirm or rule out the diagnosis,” Dr. García explained. He added that, through testing, a person can isolate themselves quickly if they are infected and thus cut the transmission chain. 

For more information about the vaccination process, with details and dates of vaccinations, you can visit www.gob.cl/pasoapaso.