MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Chile launches vaccination campaign and inoculates 140,000 on the first day
As the first doses were applied at a vaccination center in Futrono, Piñera described the campaign as a “tremendous challenge.” Chile on Wednesday launched its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, inoculating people over 90 years old at over 1,400 vaccination centers across the country.
“After 11 months of hard, painful and difficult times of pandemic, today we are initiating a mass vaccination process throughout our country in order to protect our compatriots from the threats posed by the coronavirus and this pandemic,” Chilean President Sebastian Piñera said.
As the first doses were applied at a vaccination center in Futrono, a city in the southern region of Los Rios, Piñera described the campaign as a “tremendous challenge.”
The Chilean government aims to vaccinate 5 million people in the first quarter of this year and 15 million by mid-2021.
Vaccination is free and voluntary in Chie, he said. The campaign is being carried out with almost 4 million vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac, which arrived aboard two flights last week, while more are to gradually arrive over the coming weeks.
According to the latest report, 140,412 people were inoculated in the first day. This means that Chile has so far immunized 209.501 patients since it started vaccinating on 24 December when it received the first batch of 154.000 PfizerBioNtech doses.
Chile has registered 736,645 cases and 18,576 deaths as of Wednesday, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
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Read all commentsBesides vaccinating our population — Chile is benefiting the world's health by exporting nutritious beneficial fresh fruit — especially superfood avocados and table grapes!
Feb 05th, 2021 - 11:40 pm 0A recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Dermatology found that consuming grapes protected against ultraviolet (UV) skin damage.
The study, conducted at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and led by principal investigator Craig Elmets, M.D., investigated the impact of consuming whole grape powder – equivalent to 2.25 cups of grapes per day – for 14 days against photodamage from UV light. Subjects’ skin response to UV light was measured before and after consuming grapes for two weeks by determining the threshold dose of UV radiation that induced visible reddening after 24 hours – the Minimal Erythema Dose (MED). Grape consumption was protective; more UV exposure was required to cause sunburn following grape consumption, with MED increasing on average by 74.8%.
Analysis of skin biopsies showed that the grape diet was associated with decreased DNA damage, fewer deaths of skin cells, and a reduction in inflammatory markers that if left unchecked, together can impair skin function and can potentially lead to skin cancer.
It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70.5 Most skin cancer cases are associated with exposure to UV radiation from the sun: about 90% of nonmelanoma skin cancers and 86% of melanomas, respectively. Additionally, an estimated 90% of skin aging is caused by the sun.
“We saw a significant photoprotective effect with grape consumption and we were able to identify molecular pathways by which that benefit occurs – through repair of DNA damage and downregulation of proinflammatory pathways,” said Dr. Elmets.
“Grapes may act as an edible sunscreen, offering an additional layer of protection in addition to topical sunscreen products.”
Eating fresh table grapes are scientifically proven to help you keep your health!
Cheers!
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