The Public Health Commission has approved this Thursday administer a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to people over 80 years of age and those who live in residences. However, it has not defined when the campaign of new reinforcement punctures will begin.
“It should be established the most appropriate time according to the epidemiological situation,” The Ministry of Health has pointed out after the decision made by its technicians and those of the autonomous communities. “It is considered more appropriate to continue regularly assessing the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in this population.”
Communities such as Murcia, Andalusia, Galicia and Asturias had urged Health to take the step at the beginning of May, due to the increase in infections in this age group, the most vulnerable to serious illness.
The fourth dose is not recommended for the entire population
But for now, a second booster dose (or fourth dose) not necessary for the entire population, according to the criteria of the European Medicines Agency and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), organizations that have endorsed its administration to adults over 80 years of age. “Studies on additional booster doses have raised no safety concerns,” indicated in their joint statement in April.
In making this distinction, the EU health authorities argued the absence of “clear evidence that vaccine protection against severe disease is diminishing substantially in adults with normal immune systems between the ages of 60 and 79.” And, therefore, they advised against the fourth dose for them and for the younger population.
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