Catalonia will begin next Tuesday, September 26, the flu and covid vaccination campaign for the vulnerable population, a segment that for the first time includes smokers, teachers and children between 6 months and 5 years old, called to be inoculated against the flu.
In the presentation of the campaign, the Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, expressed the objective of immunizing 75% of the population over 60 years of age. The two vaccines will be administered simultaneously, starting with the most vulnerable population: users of the 985 residences and people receiving home care.
Subsequently, on October 16, the mass vaccination campaign will begin for people over 60 years of age, health and socio-health professionals and people with risk pathologies.
Salut has acquired a total of 1,715,000 doses against the flu, 145,000 more than two years ago and 110,000 more than last year, to deal with the new groups of people who can be vaccinated. Although there are 1.6 million smokers in Catalonia and 300,000 children from 6 months to 5 years old, Carme Cabezas, Secretary of Public Health, understands that there will not be many smokers who decide to get vaccinated. “Explaining and convincing takes time,” she argued.
On the other hand, Salut estimates that between 40% and 50% of susceptible children would receive the flu vaccine. It will be administered intravenously in all cases, except in 3,000, who will receive the new intranasal vaccine, within the framework of a pilot test to contrast its effectiveness.
“Our vaccination committee says that serious cost/effectiveness studies (of the intranasal vaccine) are lacking. It is not only about evaluating the comfort of the administration, but also whether it has an adequate result. That is why the study is being done this year, and we will see what decision the vaccine committee makes,” argued Balcells.
Catalonia is the only community that has decided to include primary school teachers in the objective against flu, understanding that “they are in close contact with boys and girls and the vaccine helps preserve the school environment,” according to Cabezas.
The secretary has specified that in Spain there are 50,000 cases of childhood flu annually, of which 4,000 require hospitalization and 800 are serious. Last year, 8 children under 5 years old died from flu-related complications. That is why 12 European countries, including Spain, have adopted childhood vaccination.
The last vaccinable group is made up of people in contact with poultry or swine farms.
The covid vaccines, mostly from Pfizer, are adapted to the new variants. The one with the greatest circulation at the moment is EG.5, on which the vaccine increases antibodies up to 7 times. According to Cabezas, almost 985% of the Catalan population has had contact with the virus or the vaccine, so the strategy against Covid has become normalized until it is treated in a similar way to the flu.
“We are no longer talking about primary vaccinations and booster vaccines, but rather you have to get vaccinated when it's time and with the substance that best suits the circulating strains,” explained Cabezas.
The small number of people who have experienced reactions (mainly myocarditis) with mRNA substances will receive the Hipra protein vaccine, which although developed for the alpha and beta variants also shows effectiveness against omicron. As a novelty, the 5-month interval between the previous vaccination or an infection and the next dose drops to 3 months.
The campaign will be developed in primary care centers and, alternatively, in so-called population points, or reinforcement points - at least one in each health region - that will cover festive days. Appointments will be formalized through the La meva Salut application.
The Department expects, in accordance with the experience of previous years, a flood of requests in the first three weeks. Starting in November, it will carry out a repechage campaign by sending SMS.
