Salyut offers measles vaccine to people aged 44 to 58 years

Salyut offers measles vaccine to people aged 44 to 58 years

Given measles outbreaks in Europe, such as the one reported by WHO last year, Cases in Catalonia have increased as well as in the rest of Spain, the Ministry of Health has decided to encourage vaccination against this disease among persons born between 1966 and 1980. In those years, the incidence of measles was low, and the vaccine was not included in the vaccination schedule.

Monovalent measles vaccine was used in the 1970s, but only for a short time, so There is no optimal protection in this group. Systematic vaccination became widespread in 1981 with the introduction of the MMR vaccine, which also protects against rubella and mumps. According to pediatrician Fernando Moraga-Llopa, spokesman for the Spanish Association of Vaccinologists, “before 1966, people probably had measles, but between 1966 and 1980 they may not have been vaccinated.”

In Spain: 104 cases of measles this year

For this reason people born between 1966 and 1980 (who are now between 44 and 58 years old) They are one of the groups most exposed to the virus., especially with the rise in cases in neighboring countries. Salyut has introduced an “opportunistic vaccination” strategy, which consists of offering the vaccine to people of this age who visit primary health care centers (PHCs) for any medical reason. These people will receive two doses of the vaccine with a minimum of four weeks between them, unless they have previously been vaccinated or have had an infection.

Jacobo Mendioros, Deputy Director General for Public Health Surveillance and Emergency Response, explains: “We have created notification to KAPand when people born between 1966 and 1980 arrive, their vaccination status is checked and they are offered a vaccine if they are not vaccinated.”

The vaccine is offered at the CDC.

Mendiorosis clarifies that if they go to the AAC for another reason, they will be offered the vaccine, but there will be no direct contact to notify them. In addition, the focus of vaccination is on children aged 3 to 10 years.

The vaccine is 99% effective with both doses., the first at one year of age and the second at three to four years of age. In this case, Salyut sent an SMS to the parents of these 12-month-old children to remind them of the importance of up-to-date vaccinations.

Actually in There have been 16 cases of measles reported in Catalonia this year.This is stated in the latest report from the Catalan Public Health Agency (Aspcat). The ages of those affected range from six months to 57 years. Only three of these cases are imported and associated with travel to countries with high incidence of measles, while the rest are considered autochthonous and epidemiologically linked.

Outbreaks in countries such as Romania, Austria, Italy, France and Germany.

Although measles has been considered eradicated in Spain since 2016, thanks to 95% vaccination coverage, Mendioros expects Cases may increase in Catalonia due to the epidemiological situation in other countries.

Public health began organizing courses for health care workers, alerting them to this change so they could be alert and not rule out the disease. In Catalonia, nine of the 16 cases identified this year occurred in the capital region. Eight of these cases required hospitalization, and two had complications, although all patients had been discharged.

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