Vaccination campaign against influenza and Covid-19 in Soria in 2024: key points

The Junta of Castilla y León in Soria began last Tuesday, the first day, a vaccination campaign against influenza and Covid-19 for people in nursing homes and other care centers for the disabled, pregnant women and children aged 6 to 59 months, health and also social and medical personnel and large dependents. For the target population and groups for whom the vaccine is recommended, the campaign began yesterday, Monday 14th.

An appointment for vaccination can be made through the usual channels: the Sacyl Conecta application, the telephone number of your health center, the website www.saludcastillayleon.es and in person at the health center assigned to each user.

In the case of people placed in residential institutions, their vaccination is carried out by health professionals from each health district of Castile and León, who visited these institutions to administer both vaccines, in collaboration with medical and socio-medical specialists from the said centers.

Health and social care staff receive both vaccines in their workplaces through occupational health referral services. For the rest of the population aged 60 years and over or under 60 years of age with risk factors, where they can be vaccinated and the appointment procedure will be established in each health district, taking into account their social, population, medical circumstances, etc.

Presentation of the vaccination campaign

Territorial delegate Yolanda de Gregorio, accompanied by Soria Health Assistance manager José Luis Vicente and the head of the Territorial Health Service Elena del Vado, presented the 2024 vaccination campaign on Tuesday.

Yolanda de Gregorio said that as of yesterday, the Soria health zone had registered 2,912 flu vaccines and a total of 2,346 Covid-19 vaccines. In both cases, this is the highest percentage in Castile and León: 8% in the case of influenza and 6.7% in the case of the Covid-19 vaccine, in relation to the population over 60 years of age. Regarding immunization against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), 174 doses have been administered as of October 14, which varies greatly between those born from April to September 2024 (55.4%) and newborns in October where this the percentage rises to 88.9%.

Vaccination against influenza and Covid-19 is recommended for the following groups:

• People aged 60 years and older.
• People from the age of 5 are placed in nursing homes, nursing homes and closed institutions.
• People aged 6 months to 12 years with very high-risk conditions: hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, primary and acquired immunodeficiencies, recipients of immunosuppressive therapy (including cancer patients), severe chronic cardiovascular disease, severe chronic respiratory disease (including asthma), and serious neurological diseases. or neuromuscular diseases.
• People 12 years of age and older with the following risk conditions: diabetes mellitus; Cushing’s syndrome; morbid obesity; chronic cardiovascular, neurological or respiratory diseases, including bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cystic fibrosis and asthma; chronic kidney disease and nephrotic syndrome; hemoglobinopathies and anemias or hemophilia, other bleeding disorders and chronic bleeding disorders, as well as blood product recipients and multiple blood transfusions; asplenia or severe splenic dysfunction; chronic liver diseases, including chronic alcoholism; serious neuromuscular diseases; immunosuppression (including primary immunodeficiencies and those caused by HIV infection or medications, as well as in transplant recipients and people with complement deficiency); cancer and malignant blood diseases; chronic inflammatory disease; disorders and diseases leading to cognitive dysfunction: Down syndrome, dementia and others.
• Pregnant women in any trimester of pregnancy and women in the postpartum period (up to six months after birth and not vaccinated during pregnancy).
• People living with people who are highly immunosuppressed: Typically refers to people with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, solid organ transplantation, chronic renal failure, HIV infection with low CD4 counts, certain primary immunodeficiencies, and those on certain immunosuppressive therapies. Cohabitants of older people and people with other high-risk medical conditions listed in subsections 1, 3 and 4 may also be included.
• Staff of public and private medical and social centers and health care institutions.
• People who work in the main government services, with particular emphasis on the following subgroups: public security forces and bodies with national, regional or local dependence, as well as the Armed Forces; firefighters and civil protection services.

In addition to the above, flu vaccination is recommended:

• Child population aged 6 to 59 months.
• People who are at higher risk of complications from influenza: children 5 to 12 years of age with at-risk conditions; people from 5 to 18 years of age receiving long-term treatment with acetylsalicylic acid, due to the possibility of developing Reye’s syndrome after influenza; people who smoke; people with celiac disease; people with a spinal fistula and a cochlear implant or waiting for one.
• Students on internship in medical and social health centers.
• Employees of the educational center with any level of education.
• People who have direct occupational contact with animals or their excretions on poultry farms, pig farms or mink farms or farms, or with wildlife (birds, wild boar or mustelids), such as ranchers, veterinarians, farm workers, hunters, ornithologists, environmental agents environment, security personnel. . zoos, etc. The goal is to reduce the possibility of co-infection between human and avian or swine viruses, reducing the possibility of recombination or genetic exchange between both viruses.

Flu vaccines

Regarding flu vaccination, the campaign will gradually target those groups of the population who are at increased risk of complications if they get the flu, and people who can pass it on to others at high risk of complications.

In particular, the available vaccines correspond to five types, which will be delivered weekly to different vaccination points:

• 7,440 doses of a quadrivalent inactivated vaccine that can be administered from 6 months of age and is intended for children from 6 to 23 months, for risk groups from 5 to 59 years and pregnant women.
• 18,900 doses of quadrivalent adjuvanted inactivated vaccine for the non-institutionalized population over 60 years of age.
• 2310 quadrivalent high antigen load inactivated units intended for the population over 60 years of age in nursing homes and those with large dependents in their homes.
• 20 quadrivalent inactivated vaccines for people allergic to antibiotics.
• 1000 doses of a trivalent attenuated vaccine for intranasal administration, the target population is boys and girls aged 24 to 59 months (Fluenz, €409,818). This year, the intranasal vaccine is trivalent rather than quadrivalent, as recommended by WHO.

New this year will be an adjuvanted vaccine that will be used in populations aged 60 years and older. In previous seasons, it was prescribed to people 65 and older. This vaccine provides greater immunogenicity and protection in older adults than non-adjuvanted vaccines.

Covid-19 vaccines

The aim of vaccination against Covid-19 is to strengthen the protection of the most vulnerable groups of the population, as well as health and social care staff, in order to reduce morbidity and mortality, as well as the impact of this disease on the ability to provide health care.

The vaccine that will be introduced against Covid-19 in the 2024-2025 season are monovalent vaccines against two subvariants of the omicron strain JN.1 and KP.2, which provide protection against circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2.

Immunization against RSV bronchiolitis

Immunization against RSV began on the same day as the campaign against influenza and Covid-19. RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization for respiratory infection in children under 12 months of age each year during the fall and winter. Nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody that is used for passive immunization against severe RSV disease, protecting immediately upon administration.

The target population is children born between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, as well as children at high risk of serious illness. For those born between April and September, there is a special campaign in October where the dose is administered at a regular health center or vaccination center, and starting October 1, they will receive monoclonal antibodies in hospital at birth. .

For this immunization against bronchiolitis, 500 vaccines were distributed in Soria.

Taking advantage of the introduction of the vaccines included in the campaign, vaccination schedules will be revised to recruit the population aged 65 and 80 years or those who should be vaccinated against pneumococcus, herpes zoster or diphtheria-tetanus, both in risk groups of any age, as well as in healthy population, as well as recommended childhood vaccines in accordance with the Schedule of systematic vaccinations and immunizations throughout the life of the people of the Community of Castile and León 2024.

.