Winter is coming in a few days, the first winter period without masks since COVID-19 come into our life. Experts agree, there are factors that could cause an increase in cases in the near future: the absence of a mandatory mask, with some exceptions, the crowds caused by the holiday season and even the feeling that the disease is a thing of the past and that led us not to take all the necessary precautionary measures.
For this reason, health professionals continually reiterate the importance of getting memory doses of the vaccine, and also getting vaccinated against the flu. According to data from the Junta de Andalucía, a total of 156,394 memory doses have been applied in the province of Cádiz. As regards the coverage of the booster dose, known as the fourth dose, only 47.2% of the population over 60 years of age has been vaccinated.
At the Andalusian level, 63.9% of people over the age of 65 have already received the flu vaccine, the main target group of the campaign, especially the over 80s and people in residence with a coverage of 73.5%. In this group, The province of Cádiz has 201,124 vaccinations, which represents 53.3% of the coverageCádiz being the second province of Andalusia with the lowest percentage in terms of coverage from Almería (58.1%), Córdoba (68.5%), Granada (61.3%), Huelva (59.6%), Jaén (69.8%) and Seville (59.2%) surpass it and only Malaga (51.8%) is below it.
In terms of coverage in the other main target groups, so far in Andalusia 87.4% of people residing in care homes have been vaccinated, 30.1% of children between 6-59 months, while in Cádiz this group reaches 9.35% of vaccination; while at the regional level, 36.5% of nursing home workers, 45.3% of health and social health workers, 73.5% of over-80s, 44.6% of the population aged 12-64 with pathologies, the 58.3% of the population between 5-11 years with pathologies and 29.1% of pregnant women are vaccinated.
As for the booster doses, the so-called fourth dose, 47.2% of the population over 60 has so far been vaccinated.
In particular In the province of Cádiz, 9.4% of the population has not yet been vaccinated against covid according to data from the Junta de Andalucía e 88.8% are on full regimen right now.
Vaccination points enabled in the province
To increase the number of people vaccinated, the Junta de Andalucía is setting up vaccination points without prior appointment for influenza preparation and thus be more efficient in those pintos that do not reach the coverage figures.
Specifically, in the province of Cádiz, several points have been established in the Sierra District belonging to the Jerez, Northwest Coast and Sierra Health Management Area and which was already present in municipalities such as Villamartín and Arcos de la Frontera.
In Campo de Gibraltar, this Monday, December 5, adults will be vaccinated against influenza without an appointment at the CPA Padre Pandelo. For the same group, the form for the extractions of External Consultations of the Hospital de La Línea has also been enabled from Monday to Friday in the morning.
“Covid has come to stay”
Fernando Forgia and he Chief Executive Officer of the HLA La Salud Hospital in CádizDoctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Cádiz, Specialist in Family and Community Medicine, Masters in Public Health from the University of Cádiz, University expert in Health Management from the University of Granada and university expert in Vaccinology from the Complutense University of Madrid, and speaks for La Voz about the current situation of COVID in the province of Cádiz and the future that presents itself in the short and medium term.
Dr. Fernando Forja
Note that “We can say that the situation is quite contained, with an incidence rate in the last 14 days of around 49 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, even lower than the Andalusian average (66 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). At the same time, the number of hospitalized for covid in the province of Cádiz is only 33 patients, 4 of whom are in intensive care. Therefore, we can state this We are in one of the moments with the least activity since the beginning of this pandemic.
This is the first winter we will experience outdoors without masks since covid entered our lives, a fact that can have an impact when it comes to increasing the number of infections. “It is enough to refer to the experience of recent winters to see how tremendously effective the measures of wearing a mask and avoiding crowds have been. In fact, in addition to containing the spread of covid, this has been the main cause of the decline in cases of seasonal flu and other diseases caused by respiratory viruses at anecdotal levels. As an example, the current epidemic of bronchiolitis cases in children we suffer from is due to this.”
That is why in the coming months we will be living with the covid virus, and also with the flu virus that haunts us, two very similar viruses with similar symptoms. “Clinically, they are indistinguishable. In both diseases, the warning signs are also the same: high fever that is not relieved with antipyretics or the appearance of respiratory distress. In such cases we must seek medical assistance without delay.
In the words of Dr. Forge “Covid is here to stay”and this is why “we will live with her indefinitely”even if it is true that “the cases we are currently witnessing are much less serious, thanks to vaccination, natural immunity and the decrease in the lethality of the virus itself, which over time has evolved towards greater contagiousness but also towards less clinical severity .
“What is to be expected is that covid ends up behaving like another seasonal disease, such as the flu, which will visit us every autumn/winter and against which we will be vaccinated with updated formulations”, but underlines that “The greatest risk we run is that a significant mutation of the virus occurs, such as to be able to overcome the defenses that we currently have, both with vaccination and with the natural acquisition of immunity after an infection.
More than two years have passed since the covid entered our lives and “without a doubt this pandemic has put us to the test, and it is logical that this emotional breakdown occurs: confinement, social isolation, masks, fear, suffering for the our neighbors…”, and for this reason “it was necessary to loosen the measures, given that the epidemiological conditions allowed it”.
He says that «I think there is something left, that we no longer feel comfortable in large crowds in enclosed spaces, that we have internalized hand hygiene among our habits, protecting others when we cough or sneeze,… We are more responsible in this sense. We must take this into account now, as the holidays are approaching”, and with the Christmas holidays approaching, he underlines that “it is in any case advisable to avoid closed spaces with large gatherings”.
Despite this, he points out that a high immunity to the virus has been achieved, which has been achieved thanks to “natural immunity”, but above all to the “broad vaccination coverage that we have achieved, and which is undoubtedly an unprecedented success of scientific research , the capacity of pharmaceutical laboratories and the magnificent public and private health system that we have, which have demonstrated how to do things quickly and well, with maximum efficacy and safety for the entire population.We can congratulate ourselves for this and be very proud of our toilets. In the province of Cadiz alone we have administered almost 3 million doses of vaccine, of which more than 130,000 correspond to the 4th dose (2nd booster dose)”.
For Dr. Forja it is important to do the covid memory doses and get vaccinated against the flu because “they prevent the serious forms of the disease, avoiding its complications”.
“The new covid vaccine has been reformulated with the new omicron variants, which are the ones currently in circulation, so it is very effective. The flu vaccine, which is also reformulated every season with the circulating strains, has been demonstrating its efficacy and safety for many years, “he comments, and that is why “Getting vaccinated is one of the best decisions we can make for our health.”
