The Poniente Sanitary District of Almería, under the Ministry of Health and Consumption of the Junta de Andalucía, has started a vaccination campaign to protect against the human papillomavirus to boys and girls born in 2011. It is run by school nurses and is being developed in the educational centers of the region. In advance, through the management of each school, families are informed about the importance of receiving this vaccine as a preventive measure and the formal authorization of parents or guardians is requested. Likewise, if necessary, the vaccination record is updated with the meningitis and chickenpox vaccine.
The campaign includes vaccination in 80 schools in the region located in the municipalities of El Ejido, Roquetas de Mar, Adra, Vícar, Berja, Dalías and Balanegra. It began in mid-February and, if the forecasts are met, by the end of March 3,500 boys and girls born in 2011 will have been vaccinated. A school nursing team travels to the educational center, where a classroom has been set up for this purpose. . Health professionals also review each student’s vaccination record to update it and confirm that they have also received other vaccines such as ACWY meningitis and chickenpox. To date, school nurses have administered more than 700 HPV vaccinations. In addition, more than 600 doses of the vaccine that protects against meningococcus and around 300 against chickenpox have been counted.
The Poniente Sanitary District of Almería has with the collaboration of the territorial delegation of the Ministry of Educational Development and Vocational Training of the Junta de Andalucía to carry out this action. Through the educational centers, families have been informed of the review of the vaccination status of their children to complete their vaccination schedule and have completed the informed consent to proceed with the administration of as many doses as required by minors born in 2011. In addition, Families report the existence of possible allergies in the minor or any other clinical data of interest. For their part, the school nurses inform parents about how they should react in the event of slight discomfort arising from the vaccine.
In the letter sent, the school nurses also highlight the importance of vaccines to prevent diseases and explain the characteristics of each one of them. In the case of the ACWY meningococcal vaccine, it protects against a microorganism that can cause bacterial meningitis and other serious illnesses. 30 percent of cases of meningitis leave sequelae in the patient and 10 percent die. The chickenpox vaccine protects children from a very common infection in childhood, which is characterized by the appearance of skin lesions. Finally, the human papilloma vaccine combats a virus that is transmitted sexually. It can cause cancer of the uterus, pharynx, anus and penis, among other diseases.
However, through the school nurses and the summons team of the Poniente Sanitary District, contact is being made by phone call with families that have sons and daughters born in 2011 and who have not received the vaccines at their educational center to make an appointment and be able to administer the corresponding vaccines to the minors.
Extension of the Andalusian vaccination calendar
The Junta de Andalucía incorporated the papilloma vaccine into the immunization schedule for men with the aim of preventing the diseases that this virus also causes in them. Thus, the more than 45,000 men residing in Andalusia who were born in 2011 can be vaccinated just like girls already do, which means a saving for Andalusian families of 345 euros for each vaccinated child.
It is also worth remembering the free administration of this vaccine to people in risk groups such as: HIV-infected women and men up to age 26; women who have suffered a conization of the cervix for a precancerous lesion of any age; women with bone marrow or solid organ transplants up to 26 years of age; and men up to the age of 26 who have sexual intercourse with each other.
This new addition to the vaccination calendar added to those already included in recent years and it is that it has specified that since 2020 the ACWY meningitis vaccine has been incorporated at twelve months and in adolescents from 12 to 21 years old, that of meningitis B in infants and that of influenza in children from 6 months to 4 years and 11 months for this 2022-23 campaign.
Further information on this vaccination can be consulted on the Andavac website: Families with children in this age group can make an appointment through the Salud Responde application, the ClicSalud+ website or, in person, at their health center.
