The third dose of the covid vaccine will be administered, for the moment, only to immunosuppressed people, those who have pathologies that prevent their immune system from fighting pathogens. It is the recommendation made this Wednesday by both the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC, for its acronym in English), as well as the Vaccine Report, the group of experts that advises the Spanish Government. The proposal will have to be voted on next week by the Public Health Commission, made up of the Ministry of Health and the communities, as announced this Wednesday by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias.
The ECDC estimates that today a third dose is not necessary for the general population, since the complete regimen is sufficient for high protection, especially against hospitalization and death due to the coronavirus. “It is a position that coincides with that of the Committee on Vaccines,” Darias assured this Wednesday after the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System.
More information
This group of experts has been debating the matter for weeks and defining exactly what is considered “immunosuppressed people.” Marcos López de Hoyos, president of the Spanish Immunology Society, explains that there is no narrow definition, since the immune system can be weakened for multiple reasons, including age. “Those over 80 years of age suffer from what is called immunosenescence,” he says, which makes their body not react adequately to pathogenic attacks.
Darias has not given details and has limited himself to giving the example of those who have received a solid organ transplant. In the vaccination strategy, in April, a very vulnerable group of people was prioritized among those who were recipients of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, a solid organ transplant and on the waiting list for a solid organ transplant; people undergoing renal replacement therapy (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis); with oncohematological disease, solid organ cancer under treatment with cytotoxic chemotherapy, metastatic or radiotherapy for tumors of thoracic location with risk of pneumonitis; Primary immunodeficiencies, HIV infection (less than 200 cells / ml despite effective ART and undetectable viral load). Health sources explain that this time it will also be a small population group with very specific pathologies.
The ECDC makes a very clear differentiation between those people who need a third dose because their immune system did not react sufficiently and what would be a third booster shot in the general population. “Booster doses are given to vaccinated people (that is, those who have completed a primary series of covid vaccination) to restore protection after it has waned. On the other hand, additional doses can be administered as part of a series of primary vaccination to people with severely weakened immune systems, since they may not reach an adequate level of protection from standard primary vaccination ”, explains in a document published this Wednesday.
“The option of administering an additional vaccine dose to people who may experience a limited response to the primary series of COVID-19 vaccination, such as some categories of immunosuppressed individuals (eg, solid organ transplant recipients), should already be considered. now, ”he continues. The agency opens the door to “consider the possibility” of providing an additional dose as a precautionary measure to frail older people, “in particular those who live in closed environments”, such as residences.
With regard to booster doses for the general population, the ECDC considers that more robust data is needed: “The knowledge gaps are particularly related to the appropriate correlation of protection for different population groups and the time since the vaccination series. primary until a booster dose should be given, and the duration of immunity ”.
Countries like France have already been administering doses to immunosuppressed people for months, but both France and Germany and the United Kingdom are already planning to do so to the general population after a certain age. Israel is already doing it with everyone over 50, despite the fact that there is no scientific consensus on its usefulness.
–
