Every winter, history repeats itself in our country. Along with the drop in temperatures, the flu makes an appearance in our environmentcausing many people to start sniffling, coughing or having a fever. In general, in order to prevent the worst of this virus during the previous months, we are committed to carrying out vaccination campaigns for a part of the population, while the ‘unlucky’ rely on paracetamol and some slightly bad days.
The epidemic. For a few days now, Spain has been officially in a flu epidemic due to the increase in cases in much of Spainwhich has led some communities to activate the recommendation to wear a mask in some locations. Everything to avoid, above all, continuing to spread the virus and not infect those most vulnerable people who can easily end up admitted to a hospital, putting strain on the health system.
The problem this year is in the ‘variant K‘ of this virus for which we were not fully prepared with the vaccines available and neither were our immune systems. But luckily the weapons we have have a predictable effect to minimize their effects on the body.
Vaccination system. Currently vaccination officially recommended to a specific population. One of these groups are the smallest in the house, because they are a group of people who act as vectors. This means that it can become infected, have a very long incubation and then barely show any symptoms. The problem is that they will be able to infect everyone around them, such as their parents or even elderly people such as grandparents, which is a serious problem, since they will manifest the disease aggressively.
In this way, the strategy is to block this vector with the vaccination of children under six years of age, although not without being free of bioethical problems. On the other hand, there is vaccination for the elderly, health personnel or immunocompromisedwhere infection by this virus can lead to a very delicate state of health.
Vaccination for all. Vaccinating a small part of the population is the strategy on the table right now, but more and more voices are pointing to the need to carry out mass vaccinations. As happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this way, the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (AEV) and the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the AEP defend this strategy due to the pure statistics that exist in our country. They point out that as long as vaccination coverage is not massive, the virus always finds “gaps” to circulate. If we only vaccinate grandparents, the virus circulates freely between children (the major transmitters) and young adults, mutating and staying strong until, inevitably, it jumps back to the vulnerable.
The keys. As we have said before, the AEP has been insisting in universal childhood vaccination (from 6 to 59 months). Not only to protect the child, but because children are very efficient vectors, and they conclude that if the virus is stopped in daycares and schools, you indirectly protect the entire community. But there are more and more voices that point to the need for Those under 17 years of age should also fall within the technical criteria to receive this vaccine.
But not only these, since international organizations such as the ECDC and the WHO have indicated that expand coverage to “broad segments of the population” (including cohabitants and active workers) is the only real way to contain the epidemic wave. The more vaccinated people there are at the beginning of the wave, the fewer “highways” the virus has to move.
It is already being done. From public administrations we already see how vaccination is being recommended before the maximum peak of this epidemic arrives, which is expected just at Christmas, since that is when people can gather the most in a closed space. In this way, the Minister of Health herself, Mónica García, point for “the entire population to be vaccinated” without reference to the criteria established in the technical plans.
And it is something that the autonomous communities are doing, opening the door to anyone who wants to be vaccinated by eliminating restrictions. Catalonia, for example, since December 1 It has been opened so that anyone who wants to be immunized can do so.
For their part, Galicia and Castilla y León have implemented mass vaccination campaigns without prior appointment (“open doors”) during the weekends, making it easier for anyone passing by to receive the jab. yesThey have joined the strategy of “accelerating immunization” by eliminating the bureaucratic barriers of prior appointment.
The underlying message of these policies is clear: if you have the arm and the will, we want you vaccinated now.
The sooner the better. The experts in this case are quite clear because the vaccine does not ‘work’ at the time of inoculation. You have to wait a few weeks to generate optimal protection against the virus to reduce symptoms in the event that you contract the disease.
Images | Mufid Majnun
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