Reaching 75% of people vaccinated will be a challenge, experts say.

As every year, the vaccination campaign begins in October. This year’s target is to immunize 75% of people over 60 and health and social care workers, as well as 60% of pregnant women and at-risk groups. However, This won’t be an easy task.according to experts. “These tend to be very optimistic percentages and are rarely achieved. Depending on the community, there are usually better or worse data, but usually these are not the numbers,” says a representative of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases. and Clinical Microbiology (Seimc), Diego García Martínez de Artola.

This year they have already started registering increase in respiratory infections. “The levels of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus are still at very low levels, but in July there was a peak in Covid 19 cases, which is already declining somewhat,” explains Diego García Martínez from Artola. “We want to see an increase in vaccination adherence,” says José Maria Eiros, professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Valladolid and director of the National Influenza Center of the World Health Organization of Valladolid.

Vaccination uptake can be improved. And in the last campaign, “commitment was far from the goals that were set for the country as a whole,” Eiros says. In particular, with influenza in people over 60 years of age it reached 66%, which is 9% less than the calculated figure; and among pregnant women – 57.8%. In addition, in health and social services it also decreased. “A vaccination promotion campaign has been launched to see if we can reach 75%, although initially I would be satisfied with 70%,” says the permanent emeritus consultant of the vaccine department of the Ministry of Health and Public Health. Health expert Jose Antonio Navarro.

But, why has it decreased? “There are many factors, but the most striking thing is that both health care providers and the public do not realize that these can be serious pathologies, which means that vaccination is not actively recommended,” explains Navarro.

On the other side of the coin vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus (VRS) is on the right track and has prevented many ICU admissions. In fact, the previous campaign administered 278,000 doses to newborns and infants under six months and avoided 7,500 hospitalizations, according to the Department of Health. This year’s goal is to increase immunization coverage.

There are not many new features of this campaign compared to the previous ones. This will end in January 2025. This year, the priority is a simultaneous campaign against Covid 19 and influenza in target groups. These are people over 60 years of age, people hospitalized in populated areas with chronic diseases, people with weakened immune systems, as well as health and social care workers. Also the child population (especially under five years of age) and pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy. Likewise, the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatricians (Aepap) called on families and administrations to vaccinate children under five years of age against influenza.

Covid 19 vaccines tailored to new variants will be administered this season. Health is expected to purchase three million doses of Hipra (as part of a joint procurement) and 6.5 million doses of Pfizer. As for influenza, the newspaper learned that the autonomy received about 12.20 million doses, compared to 12.78 million registered last year.

Explosion of cases

At the beginning of this year there was explosion of respiratory virus cases (mostly flu), collapsing clinics and hospitals. In fact, the mask lasted several days. “This was due to the weakening of the security measures that we are taking after the pandemic,” says a representative of the Seimas.

Jose Antonio Navarro says this every season It brings with it various viruses. “Every season there are different seasonal viruses. We don’t know with what virulence it will enter, with what contagion, how it will behave in the general population,” he says. “In the post-pandemic period, influenza has regained its prominence and is returning to pre-pandemic activity. This should help us make predictions about health care delivery. The most important thing is health education,” adds José Maria Eiros.

On the other hand, there has been limited progress in influenza vaccination in Europe since the Council’s recommendation on seasonal influenza vaccination in 2009, experts noted at EU Flu Day. Also worth mentioning is the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus.

He vaccination schedule It is completely identical in almost all autonomous ones. “Now we practically have one law for all autonomies,” says José Antonio Navarro. Likewise, Martínez de Artola remembers that there are viruses and there are no vaccines for them. “Rhinovirus, enterovirus and metapneumovirus are three viruses that may be important during these months. They cause everything from colds to more serious infections and pneumonia,” he says.