Cantabria will begin the joint vaccination campaign against flu and Covid on October 1, in which children between 6 and 59 months will be vaccinated against flu for the first time; as well as vaccination of babies against respiratory syncytial virus.
For the flu vaccination campaign, the region has placed an initial order for about 15,900 doses, although it has a margin for expansion of up to 20 percent; while it has more than 8,000 doses at this time for COVID-19 and will receive the rest throughout the month of October.
This was reported this Wednesday at a press conference by the Minister of Health, César Pascual, together with the general director of Public Health, Isabel de Frutos, and the head of the Pediatric Service of the Valdecilla Hospital, María Jesús Cabero.
Pascual explained that he will be vaccinated together against flu and Covid, and not separately as had been proposed in some autonomous community, “for optimization and effectiveness” given that it is “very difficult” for citizens to go to the vaccination twice. get vaccinated and the goal is to achieve “the maximum” vaccination rate.
The campaign will begin with the vaccination of the most vulnerable population groups, people admitted to disability and senior centers, during the first fortnight of the month. However, anyone who requests it can be vaccinated during this time at health centers.
Thus, mass vaccination of the rest of the population will take place from the 15th, in accordance with the vaccination recommendations against flu and Covid approved by the Interterritorial Council at the proposal of the Vaccine Commission.
People over 60 years of age or people under 60 who have a risk condition will be vaccinated; to professionals from health centers and institutions, workers from social health centers, pregnant women and people living with people with some degree of immunosuppression, for example with cancer; and people who work in essential public services, such as police officers.
As a novelty, this year children between 6 and 59 months of age will be vaccinated against the flu, which is estimated to be around 17,200, while they will continue to be vaccinated against Covid as has happened until now.
The Cantabrian Health Service (SCS) will offer users through all its channels – the MiSalud website, the app or by calling the center – the possibility of opting for vaccination. Thus, people who meet the requirements must request an appointment with their nurse since there will be no self-appointment for vaccination.
In addition, the nurse will take the opportunity to test people over 65 years of age, who are likely to attend “en masse”, to see if they are also being vaccinated against the herpes zoster virus or pneumococcus, and thus also reinforce those two. bells.
The counselor recalled that people who have private insurance can also contact them by telephone to be vaccinated given that vaccination is universal, not only for people who are cared for by public health.
Regarding the pediatric population, parents can request a vaccination appointment with their pediatrician through the usual channels.
On the other hand, the region is also going to begin immunization against the respiratory sycytial virus, which is not a vaccine but a drug –Nirsevimab–, to provide children with immunity against this virus, which causes bronchiolitis every year. and respiratory infections and which, according to Pascual, has returned to the presence it had before, “even a little more”, and can lead to having a “very high” healthcare pressure.
Thus, in accordance with the recommendations, some 3,500 children will be vaccinated, divided into two groups: all who are at high risk of disease and those under six months at the beginning or during the season, that is, those born in April or that are born in the campaign.
The Director General of Public Health has recalled that the vaccination campaign is always “highly recommended”, although it is not mandatory, especially in children, who are the main transmitters of infections to the family.
For his part, Cabero highlighted that this is a “historic moment” for being able to complete the immunization of children, for the benefit of family and work conciliation for families, in addition to having “healthier children.”
He has pointed out that the incidence of flu is higher in the first years of life than even in the age groups over 80 years of age, so in this way “a lot of infection” is cut off throughout the community.
Finally, he added that the start of the course has been calm given that it started very recently, but he recalled that last year there was a lot of flu, a lot of bronchiolitis, also serious in intensive care, and he hopes to have a “better” winter than last year. above from the systemic point of view.
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2023-09-20 11:35:15
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