The vaccination plan begins its last phase: the hour of adolescents | Society

The vaccination centers of half Spain are already populating adolescents who, accompanied by their parents, come to receive the first dose to be immunized against covid-19. Ten communities have started with the last section of the plan: kids from 12 to 19 years old. There are 3.8 million people, of which 17.9% have already received at least one puncture, at a rate that suggests that throughout September, as the school year begins, the pattern of most of this age group.

This group overlaps with those of higher ages, who continue to advance towards double puncture (in the case of those between 30 and 50) or with those who are mostly receiving the first, as is the case with twentysomethings, of which more than half have a dose. Spain continues among the countries with the most fully vaccinated people: 58.6% of the population.

The vicinity of the vaccination point against covid 19 in the Plaza de España in Barcelona looked like a kind of remake from the movie about Benjamin Button. After giving shelter to tails of gray heads, middle-aged people, young people who are no longer so and others who will soon cease to be, it is now the turn of adolescents: the vaccination of people between 12 and 15 has just started in Catalonia years. The only communities that remain without opening shifts en masse for those under 20 are Cantabria, Castilla y León, Comunidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia and La Rioja.

At the Fira de Barcelona, ​​the queue moves fast and the scene is made up of kids who are accompanied by their parents and little brothers. One leaves the compound with a plaster on his arm and talking on the phone, presumably with one of his grandparents: “Yes, they have already vaccinated me; no, it didn’t hurt. Well, I have gone camping, and now we will come to town ”.

The experts who advise the Government on the vaccination plan have had few doubts when it comes to including this group in the strategy, something that most European countries have also done, as well as the United States. More reluctant has been the United Kingdom. Although it was one of the first countries to start with inoculations, at the moment they have only been administered to minors with pathologies that make them more vulnerable to covid. The Minister of Universities, Michelle Donelan, announced this Wednesday that it will begin “imminently” among those who are 16 and 17, but it is not clear if they will do so with minors. Experts from this country consider that the risk-benefit assessment for them is not clearly favorable.

The risk of suffering complications with the disease in this population is very remote, but they are not exempt in exceptional cases. According to the latest data from the Carlos III Health Institute, which still require an update to include a good part of those in the fifth wave (consolidation is weeks late), since June 22, 2020, 2,878 kids between 10 and 19 years old have been hospitalized because of the coronavirus; 160 of them required intensive care and 17 lost their lives.

Ángel Hernández Merino, from the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Society of Pediatrics, thinks that it is a “very low” number, compared to the older age group, but “very high” in terms of social cost. Therefore, with the great wave underway, which affects mainly the younger population and due to the need to vaccinate this population to control the epidemic, the criterion in most Western countries is to vaccinate adolescents.

The doubts for British experts arise, among other things, because isolated cases of pericarditis and myocarditis, generally mild, have been detected in the younger population after vaccination. In the absence of establishing conclusive causal relationships between the injections and these adverse effects, Hernández Merino emphasizes that the risk of suffering these ailments due to the SARS-CoV2 infection is much higher. “This is difficult to make some families understand because if they think that the risk of infection is small, they give little importance to the risks derived from contagion,” he stresses.

In any case, this expert believes that vaccination among this group will reach high rates. “They are usually very influenced by the opinion of their parents, who in Spain tend to have a very good response to vaccination,” he explains. For those under 16 years of age, it is mandatory to go to the inoculation accompanied by an adult who, by his or her presence, gives consent to the prick.

With some fear and not exempt from reluctance, at the exit of the Fira de Barcelona, ​​young people took the same photos this Wednesday as older generations. Dani Zazo takes a snapshot of his recently vaccinated 14-year-old daughter Ariadna, while her little sister, eight, looks at her. “He was not very excited, but his parents have told him and that’s what it is,” says the father, smiling. Just open the call this morning, they have tried through the application and have obtained an appointment. The family values ​​that everyone is vaccinated, not so much because they need it for the holidays, but to be able to get to the start of the year with everyone already immunized.

The brothers Óscar and Pablo Pons have also received the puncture, and are going home with their mother, who quickly this morning has gotten an appointment. They are 15 and 13 years old and both walk holding the vaccinated area with one hand. “I was a little scared at first, but everything went perfect, you hardly notice when they prick you,” says one. “We already wanted to get vaccinated,” adds the other. Summer brings them a trip to Galicia and another to the Pyrenees, at the moment areas in which the immunity passport is not requested to do activities. “In principle it is not necessary, but hey, it always goes well”, emphasizes the mother.

An essential group to control the epidemic

Manuel Franco, spokesman for the Spanish Public Health Society, argues that the vaccination of adolescents will be important for a successful return to the classroom next year. “In addition, achieving herd immunity without them is practically impossible,” he stresses.

The truth is that this goal is complicated even with them. The new variants have caused that the figure of 70% of people immunized to reach it is already a long way off and most experts place it above 90%. Taking into account that there is no approved vaccine for children under 12 years of age (who make up 11% of the population), It is estimated that 4% reject the vaccine frontally, and that there are other people who have no interest or cannot access the injection (either due to lack of motivation, being out of the system or due to health problems), it is difficult to reach much more than 80%. So many experts no longer speak so much about this group protection, but rather about the functional control of the epidemic: minimizing infections and that very few cases require hospital care.

Another debate that opens with the vaccination of adolescents is the ethical one. The pediatrician Carlos González, author of the book In defense of vaccines, questions that in a world that has few doses, young Europeans are pricked earlier than elderly Africans. “If there were for everyone, everyone would have to be vaccinated. And I hope that soon there will be studies to be able to vaccinate children as well. But, as long as there are none, priority should be given to vaccinating risk groups in other countries ”. The World Health Organization has made several calls in this regard, insisting that it is not necessary to vaccinate the youngest, since their lives are not at great risk.

–