The Ministry of Health has decided to include the children up to 5 years in vaccination against influenza for this upcoming season in all the autonomous communities, a measure that has already launched the Region of Murcia in a pioneering way in the last vaccination campaign 2022-2023 and that will now be extended to the entire national territory.
This was announced this Friday by those responsible for the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP)who highlight among the recommendations for this coming season the recommendation of flu vaccination for the first time to the child population of 6 to 59 months of age in all autonomous communities and cities.
Specialists report that the Ministry of Health has just published three reference documents related to immunizations: the first on vaccination recommendations anti-flu and against covid for next fall; the second, on the vaccination of rescue with accelerated guidelines, in which some considerations on the use of DTaP-VPI vaccines (Infanrix-IPV and Tetraxim) are added; and the third, the considerations of the Report on Vaccine Programs and Registries on the respiratory syncytial virus immunoprophylaxis (VRS) con nirsevimab.
In this case, the pediatricians emphasize that “this will be the first season in which children between 6 and 59 months of age are included in the target population in all the communities”, although they recall that in the last vaccination campaign three communities (Murcia, Andalusia and Galicia) went ahead and began vaccinating this population group against influenza.
The document of the Report on Vaccination Programs and Records on influenza vaccination this upcoming 2023-2024 season was approved by the Public Health Commission (CSP) of the SNS Interterritorial Council (CISNS) on July 12 and published by the Ministry of Health this week.
Murcia will protect babies under 6 months with a vaccine against bronchiolitis
risk groups
It includes, among the population groups in which influenza vaccination is recommended, people with increased risk of infection of complications or serious illness in case of suffering from these infections, such as: the infant population between 6-59 months of age; people aged 60 or over (this is a novelty, before it was those over 64), although several communities had already lowered this threshold to 60 years of age on their own; as well as children from the age of 5, adolescents and adults up to the age of 59 who are inmates in residences or institutions (elderly, disabled, prisons, etc.).
Also included are children and adolescents 5 to 18 years old receiving prolonged treatment with acetylsalicylic acid, pregnant in any trimester of pregnancy and women during the puerperium (up to 6 months after delivery and who have not been vaccinated during pregnancy) and people living with those who have high degree of immunosuppression.
In addition to including children under 5 years of age in the last campaign, the Region of Murcia was also a pioneer in incorporating the use of intranasal flu vaccine in children up to 4 years.
Immunization against bronchiolitis in babies
This same month of July, the regional government has authorized the incorporation into the Vaccine program of the Region of Murcia of immunization to prevent bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In this way, the administration of immunization will begin for all those born on or after April 1, 2023, provided they are less than six months old at the time of administration, which will be with a single puncture.
2023-07-29 04:00:44
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