84% of Garcia Blairsey School students were vaccinated against meningitis this weekend.
Monday, June 10, 2024, 2:18 p.m.
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84% of the CEIP García Blerzi educational community in Gran Tarajal responded to the call of the Canarian Health Service and were vaccinated against meningitis this weekend. The prevention campaign was launched after two cases were identified in April and May of different ages, families and education levels, but of the same strain, so there was a possibility that there were carriers of the virus in the educational center of the city. Municipality of Tuineje.
Of the 700 students, teachers, workers, cleaners and school janitors, Around 600 people have been vaccinated to avoid the risk of a third case. Minors visited the pediatric department of the Gran Tarajal Medical Center on Saturday and Sunday, depending on their level of education, while adults visited without an appointment and at any time.
The main hypothesis of the Canarian Health Service is that in the CEIP García Blairzi there is currently “a chain of people with meningococcus in the throat, but who did not suffer from the disease that caused the appearance of these two cases,” they reported. families through an information letter. The form of infection is the respiratory route, “directly from person to person in very close contact, and not through glasses, pencils, tables, surfaces, etc.”
CEIP García Blairzy, located at the entrance to Gran Tarajal.
Javier Melian / Acfi Press
Following the detection of a second case in May, the risk of a third case being identified is “quite high”. Although the cases that occurred at the school developed favorably, the Ministry of Health remembers that on average one in ten cases of this disease dies.
A total of seven cases of meningitis have been reported in the Canary Islands this year.This is stated in the latest weekly report on epidemiological surveillance in Spain, published by the Carlos III Institute of Health.
All cases of meningitis were reported on the islands in 2024. These were isolated infections, with the exception of two infections identified at the Gran Tarajal school.This was reported by sources in the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Sari Viera, director of the educational center of the municipality of Tuineje, praised the preventive vaccination campaign against meningitis from the very beginning. “That’s the best thing he’s done: put protections in place for those of us inside the school and see if more cases don’t arise.”