By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

On Sunday, the Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, visited different prisons in Metropolitan Lima where the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is being carried out for inmates over 38 years of age.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

From the Lurigancho prison, the minister highlighted the vaccination of the prison population. “This vaccination is very important because we know that in prisons there is a great overcrowding, that is why it was coordinated to carry out this campaign in different prisons in Lima,” he said.

Minister Cevallos added: “The prisons had already begun to vaccinate those over 70 years of age, but we have to design a strategy to even vaccinate minors because they are all together, always starting with the most vulnerable.”

Accompanied by the president of the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE), Susana Silva Hasembank, the head of the Health sector explained that this day of vaccination of inmates is being deployed in other prisons, such as Miguel Castro Castro, Ancón II, Santa Mónica, among others. For this day it is estimated to vaccinate between 6000 and 7000 inmates.

Minister Hernando Cevallos took the opportunity to urge the prison population to continue to comply with prevention measures, and also expressed his support.

“We know that the pandemic has also been very difficult for you. As a State, we have the obligation to take care of the health of all of you and to continue supporting you in your process of reintegration into society,” said Cevallos Flores.

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For her part, the president of INPE ruled out that a case of the Delta variant had been presented in the Lurigancho prison. “Fortunately, in the Lurigancho prison there is no case of COVID-19, otherwise we could not be doing this vaccination campaign,” said Hasembank.

However, he reported that there have been cases of infected in the Ancón I prison, but that thanks to the support of the Ministry of Health – he commented – no case has been detected with the Delta variant. “The variant we have at the moment is the Gamma,” he concluded.