Medical evidence prevails over pseudoscientific theories that still today question the importance of vaccines to protect collective health and save lives.
In this context, the Basque Department of Health is committed to expanding the protection of both the elderly and vulnerable population and children against very different diseases whose common denominator is the existence of therapeutic weapons to combat them. Pathologies such as herpes zoster, meningococcus B, polio or papillomavirus, well known to the people of Alava, are found in this group.
While these coverages grow – and will continue to do so – doubts persist regarding the administration of new boosters of the covid-19 vaccine now that the pandemic has been under control for months. It is expected, however, that Health will decide soon whether this fall it will once again opt for joint immunization against coronavirus and flu, as it did for the first time last year. The criteria and recommendations formulated by the experts will be key in one sense or another. For many vulnerable patients it would already be the sixth dose against the pathogen.
Leaving hypotheses aside, what does constitute a reality is the progressive coverage that Salud is offering to older patients against herpes zoster, the disease commonly known as shingles, which can affect anyone who has had chickenpox in the country. past and is already responsible for 10,000 new cases a year in Euskadi. The risk of suffering from this infection increases with age, especially after age 50. And in this scenario, Health has expanded the vaccination program against it to people between 76 and 80 years old, those born between 1943 and 1947. This group has joined the at-risk population of any age and people 65 years old. , to whom immunization has already been offered since 2022 and the beginning of this year, respectively.
While waiting to know all the details about the new flu campaign, which started last year in Álava on October 3, Health has expanded child protection this year with the vaccine against meningitis B and is going to extend even plus that of the human papillomavirus (HPV). In addition, it has added an additional dose against polio and will incorporate flu immunization for children from six months to five years.
This school course
The closest novelty in this area will be the introduction of the HPV vaccine among all children under 12 years of age, in two doses and with an interval of six months between them. The process will begin coinciding with the start of this 2023/24 school year, which corresponds to the cohort born in 2012. Until now, only girls were vaccinated against HPV to prevent cervical cancer, but Its extension now to children seeks to contribute to reducing the incidence of other cancers and genital lesions that also affect men and, more generally, the presence of the virus in the community.
Meanwhile, vaccination against meningococcus B has begun to be financed by Health and, therefore, has become free for children born after January 1, with a schedule of three doses at two, four and 12 months.
The flu vaccine, which was already administered to at-risk children, will now be extended to all children between six months and five years of age. And finally, the entire child population who turns six this year will have a third dose available against polio, which will be added to a more effective version of the third dose that was already administered against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. The four vaccines are now administered in a single puncture – tetravalence.
2023-09-10 06:20:23
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