The rates of admissions due to Covid in Spanish hospitals have doubled among those over 60 in just one month. This is indicated by the latest respiratory infection surveillance report, referring to the week of August 28 to September 3.
Since the beginning of the summer, the indicators have been showing an increase in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially in primary school. Sales of Covid tests have skyrocketed by 500% and this increase in cases has ended up being reflected in hospitalizations.
Despite the high degree of immunity among the Spanish population, those over 60 years of age have a higher risk of progression to severe disease since your immune system is weaker. Thus, between week 32 (the first complete week of August) and the latter, income has gone from 5.2 to 10.4 over 60 per 100,000 inhabitants. That is, double in just four weeks.
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The report, carried out by experts from the National Epidemiological Surveillance Networkdivide these data by age group. Those most affected are those over 89 years of age: 58.9 admissions per 100,000 people. At the beginning of August it was 24.7.
The hospitalization rate decreases as we go down in age: 22.7 admissions per 100,000 inhabitants in individuals between 85 and 89 years of age; 13.1 income in those from 80 to 84 years old, 11.4 income in those from 75 to 79.
Up to this point, a smooth ascending line could be drawn, without peaks, typical of the distribution of cases when they are numerous. In the ranges between 60 and 74 years of age, this line has abrupt peaks and troughs, indicating that there are not so many cases.
Thus, if there are 1.2 hospitalized between the ages of 70 and 74 for every 100,000 Spaniards, in the 65 to 69 age range they rise to 9.8, to drop abruptly in the 60 to 64 age range (2.5 cases).
The global hospitalization rate for Covid is 2.9 cases per 100,000 people, being the highest of the entire year since the peak reached at Christmas.
Higher transmission variants
The SARS-CoV-2 variants most identified in hospitals are XBB.1.5 (32%) and BQ.1 (29%). The first (and its sublineages) is responsible for the Covid boom that Europe has been experiencing in recent weeks.
However, no sequences of the BA.2.86 variant have been detected so far, the most feared at present, since it contains more than 30 mutations that differentiate it from its ‘sister’ lineages.
The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) reports that there have been reports of about thirty cases of this variantappeared for the first time between May and July, the majority coming from Denmark (12).
Within the European Union, cases have also been detected in France, Portugal and Sweden. Beyond its borders, they have been reported in Israel, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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The ECDC classified this variant as ‘under observation’ on August 24 given the high number of mutations contained in the spike protein (the one the virus uses to latch onto and infect human cells).
Nevertheless, there is no evidence to suggest that this variant causes more severe disease or evades immunity —acquired naturally or by vaccination—generated by previous variants.
Andrea Ammon, the center’s director, cautions, however, that “older people and those with underlying health conditions remain at elevated risk of severe disease if they become infected, so fall vaccination programs should prioritize protecting individuals at risk, as well as those over 60 years of age and other vulnerable groups”.
Vaccines for this fall
The Report on the Vaccination Program and Registry has prepared the flu and covid vaccination recommendations in Spain for the 2023-2024 season. Both vaccines are recommended for people 60 years of age or older, those —from the age of 5— who are hospitalized in nursing homes or centers for disabilities, and those with risk conditions such as diabetes, morbid obesity, or chronic cardiovascular and neurological diseases. and respiratory.
Also included in the recommendations are pregnant women “in any trimester of pregnancy” and those who have given birth less than six months ago “and who have not been vaccinated during pregnancy”, as well as people who live with those with some degree of immunosuppression.
Finally, to reduce the impact and maintenance of critical and essential services, The Paper recommends vaccinating against influenza and Covid to the staff of public and private health and social health centersas well as the State security forces and bodies, firefighters and civil protection services.
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The vaccination campaign will begin in October, depending on the availability of the vaccines. WHO, ECDC and European Medicines Agency recommend the administration of vaccines adapted to the XBB variantboth in primary vaccination and booster dose.
However, so far there are no approved vaccines that meet this criteria, so the Paper recommends, until they arrive, use the available ones and, in case messenger RNA vaccines are contraindicated (those from Pfizer and Moderna), ” available protein vaccines may be administered.”
This group includes the Bimervax vaccine, produced by the Spanish company Hipra. It was approved last March as a booster dose in people 16 years and older. The Government, shortly after, announced the purchase of 3.2 million doses but they did not begin to distribute them in health centers until the summer.
At that time, many wondered about the viability of the vaccine once the WHO had declared the end of the international emergency (Spain declared the end of the health crisis at the beginning of July). With the gradual increase in infections since the beginning of summer and its translation into hospitalizations, Covid is regaining its validity. As experts have repeated to us countless times, the virus is here to stay and we will need vaccines to continue fighting it.
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2023-09-08 00:52:12
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