ALMERIA, 11 Nov (EUROPA PRESS) –
Experts gathered at the 19th Balmis Knows International Vaccine Update Conference in Almería concluded that the covid-19 pandemic “is not over”, that “the guard cannot be lowered” and that “this autumn’s booster dose, the well-known As a fourth dose, it is necessary for risk groups and people over the age of 60 “.
The round table on the “Current state of vaccination against Covid-19” was moderated by Alfonso Carmona Martínez, president of the College of Doctors of Seville and founder and medical director of the IHP Group, and by Francisco Giménez Sánchez, director of these Conferences and the Balmis Vaccine Institute.
It was attended by Pilar Arrazola, head of the Preventive Medicine service of the University Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid); Javier Díez Domingo, head of the vaccine research area at the FISABIO Foundation (Valencia); Fernando Moraga Llop, Vice President of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (Barcelona); and Rolando Ulloa-Gutiérrez, president of the Research Committee of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (San José, Costa Rica).
Arrazola has reviewed these three years, from the first health alert from China in December 2019 to the present time.
Currently, there are more than 13.5 million confirmed and reported cases of Covid-19 in Spain, according to Arrazola, who stressed the importance of vaccines to prevent serious cases and deaths, as well as hand hygiene to reduce transmission, “a measure that we must keep forever”.
Faced with an impending pandemic, he suggested the need to strengthen the public health structure, guarantee access to health care, improve personal protective equipment, intervene on chronic diseases, address inequalities, as well as the importance of research and development in diagnostics, therapies and vaccines.
Javier Díez Domingo highlighted the importance of prevention against covid-19 and that “it is unthinkable that there are still people who deny the vaccine and do not want to do so”.
As for the infant population, he explained that children are not the main transmitters of the disease, so “their vaccination will have little impact on the transmission of the infection”.
In addition, he stressed that the vaccine in children “is very safe, but that the efficacy data suggests a short-term protective effect for the infection.”
For his part, Moraga highlighted that over 13,000 million doses of vaccines against Covid have been administered worldwide, avoiding 20 million deaths.
Likewise, he advanced that “the recombinant vaccines, including the Spanish one from Hipra which is about to be authorized, will allow the administration of booster doses with other types of vaccines, which will increase the immune response”.
Meanwhile, Rolando-Ulloa stressed that 68 percent of the world population has received at least one dose against Covid-19 and that today 1.7 million doses are administered every day, but insisted that “there is still a lot to do, especially in low-income countries, where only 23.4% of people received at least one dose.
A FUTURE OF HOPE IN THE FACE OF PNEUMOCOCCUS DISEASE
The round table “Changing the course of pneumococcal disease: towards a future of hope” was moderated by Ernestina Azor Martínez, pediatrician of the Virgen del Mar Health Center (Almería) and vice president of the Balmis Vaccine Institute, and by Francisco Giménez Sánchez, Director of the Balmis Vaccine Institute and coordinator of Pediatrics of the IHP Group at the Vithas Hospitals of Almería and Granada.
It was attended by Jesús Ruiz Contreras, Head of Pediatrics at the 12 de Octubre Hospital (Madrid) and member of the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (CAV-AEP), and Ángel Gil de Miguel, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Health Public of the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid).
Ruiz Contreras focused his speech on the future of childhood vaccination. Therefore, he explained that 10-valent and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines significantly reduced invasive pneumococcal infections, such as meningitis or sepsis, and non-invasive ones, such as pneumonia, otitis media or sinusitis, caused by vaccine serotypes.
However, as she pointed out, there has been an increase in these same infections caused by non-vaccine serotypes.
“New pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have been authorized or are currently in development that will help control pneumococcal disease caused by serotypes not contained in current vaccines,” he stressed.
For his part, Ángel Gil addressed the importance of vaccination in adults. As pointed out and according to the INE data, pneumonia is the 10th leading cause of death and most occurs after the age of 50.
“With increasing age, the severity is greater, but it is also associated with chronicity,” he pointed out and detailed that the effect of pneumococcal vaccination in children has an effect on the adult population, but is insufficient.
Then, he referred to the new 15-valent and 20-valent conjugate vaccines for adults, which increase protection against invasive pneumococcal disease, in particular 20-valent pneumococcal disease, which prevents against the serotypes responsible for 70% of current cases of this disease. disease .
Much of this Friday’s programming will be devoted to public health from the One Health perspective, which combines human, animal and environmental health.
At this same table there will be an online conference on the history of the development of a Covid-19 vaccine suitable for global access, by María Elena Bottazzi, associate dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, professor of pediatrics and co-director of the Center for Texas Children’s Hospital Vaccine Development at BCM (Houston, Texas, USA), which along with Peter Hotez was nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize for its affordable vaccine against Covid-19.
The conference will conclude with a discussion on the vaccination programs of the American Vaccine Committee (ACIP) and the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (CAV-AEP) by Valentín Pineda and María Garcés, members of the CAV-AEP , and Pablo Sánchez, member of ACIP.
