About 6,300 children under five begin receiving flu vaccine
This Monday, health centers throughout Galicia began administering the childhood flu vaccine. This campaign targets the population aged 6 months to 5 years. An innovation that has been very well received by children is the introduction of an intranasal vaccine for children who are already two years old. So the goal is to improve compliance with this vaccination campaign because it is easier to administer and minors tolerate it better because it does not involve the dreaded puncture.
In the province of Ourense there are about 6,300 minors who will be able to protect themselves from the flu this year, and Sergas started meeting them via text that they go to their nurse referral center for consultation.
Additionally, the launch of this campaign brought back superheroes who also accompanied minors through the COVID immunization process amid the pandemic. At the A Cunha Medical Center in Ourense. Spider-Man, Captain America and Captain Marvel were waiting for them to cheer them on and hand them their super brave card..
Captain America waits for a minor who is about to get a flu shot. / Alan Perez
Veronica Chiveira, Deputy Director of Nursing for Ourense Primary Health Care, recalls that in addition to the group from 6 months to 5 yearschildren with risk pathologies can also be vaccinatedby asking to make an appointment with your pediatric nurse. Sanidad also points out that this Monday also opened a campaign for people of all ages immobilized at home and their primary caregiver.
For her part, the pediatric nurse at the A Ponte Medical Center, Ana Belen Penido, noted this Monday that this experience has been beneficial for minors who received the intranasal vaccine. “The children cooperate very well because this vaccine does not require anything, they accepted it much better than a regular puncture,” he notes. This way, minors can receive the vaccine while sitting on the lap of their parent or family member who is carrying them. The nurse administers it using a syringe that is inserted into each nostril. “If the intranasal procedure is not possible, then the intramuscular procedure is used, as before,” adds Penido.
Childhood flu vaccine It will take place in 183 locations in the province of Ourense. The goal of this campaign is to reduce morbidity and mortality from influenza virus infections in children.