The Valencian Community has decided to anticipate many other autonomies and, from 1 October lastthe Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. is already free throughout the 12 years and not only for girls, who already had them since 2007. The measure (approved only in C. Valenciana, Catalonia or Galicia) represented a wager of the new Minister of Health, Miguel Minguezand responded to a long-standing request from families and pediatricians effectively curb new cases of cervical cancer because of the virus. Its implementation, however, is ongoing Discrete Until now.
The reason is that even if pediatricians are willing to start vaccinating everyone children born in 2010 and who have reached or will reach 12 years this 2022 (as established by the ordinance of the Ministry of Health), in the refrigerators of health centers there are not enough extra doses for all teenagers. This is the criticism that various professionals and scientific societies of Pediatrics have launched after verifying that the provision started more than a week ago but without an adequate supply of vials.
“We have the vaccines we had for girls, no more. And as far as I know, there is still no prediction that more ampoules will arrive,” she explains. louis blesaValencian pediatrician and vice president of Valencian Society of Pediatrics. As the dose of reinforcement arrives, the pros have to “juggle”. “What do I do if two twin brothers, a boy and a girl, come to me for a check-up? Do I give it to you and not him? I give it to both of you, risking running out of doses for the check-up of another child who has the check-up in November? “asks Blesa, who remembers that they are the ones who face families” above quick decisions and announcements to look good, “she complains.
Indeed, Blesa is one of the specialists who is not yet performing the active capturethat is to start calling children who have turned twelve this year (starting with those of January), as sanctioned by the decree approving the vaccination calendar because “although we can cheat with the remaining doses, there would be none for all of us we can ‘Don’t start calling the kids, ”he explains.
Wait for more vaccines to arrive
There are several health centers where they go wait for other reserves of vials not to run out of vaccines for girls and thus create a bigger problem. “When more vaccines arrive, we will start actively recruiting because they have yet to arrive and we can generate a problem due to the rush of the Department of Health for having implemented the measure without having everything organized “, criticized Eva Suarez, president of the Valencian Society of Pediatrics and professional in a health center in Burriana. “We can’t actively recruit all children until we get enough doses,” she explained.
In other pediatric consultations, such as the Valero Sebastiano, also from Valencian society, are starting to call but with limited appointments. “We went citing the first 10 or 12 children but without calling everyone because we have to see if other vaccines arrive and save for the ones we had already committed to the girls’ check-ups », she admits.
So far, 701 out of 27,671 children have been vaccinated
And a few “extra” doses are not needed. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in the Valencian Community this year more boys than girls will turn 12: 27,671 boys as compared to 25,750 girls the same age. This means that in addition to the vials purchased and distributed so far for vaccinating the 25,000 girls, health centers are expected to receive as many doses for children by the end of the year.
Professionals understand that until the beginning of the year and the supply with the laboratories is “normalized” it will not be possible to have a complete vaccination of those born in 2010, therefore it will “drag on” until 2023 when all Valencian children born in 2011 start being vaccinated.
For now, and according to data provided by the Ministry of Health, the health centers have been able to do so now cites and vaccinates 701 children throughout the Valencian Community of the over 27,600 to which it touches. As for girls born in 2010, 14,337 have already received the first dose so far. Sources of administration did not specify whether an extra purchase of ampoules was made or when this dose supplement will be made despite the questions posed by this journal.
