The Ministry of Health begins developing the next flu campaign once six out of 10 people over 60 have been vaccinated.

The Department of Health will meet next week to begin developing the next flu campaign, which will begin in the fall, a little more than a month after that campaign ends. officially closed season 2023–2024, in which global coverage of the population over 60 years of age was 61%, lower than the original target of 75%.

It has not yet been confirmed whether it will be launched in conjunction with Covid-19 vaccinations for at-risk groups, as has been done in previous years. The decision will depend on strategy accept the Presentation of the vaccine and the Public Health Commission of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System and the recommendations that will be published in a few months.

As part of the latest flu vaccination campaign, which started last October, The DGA purchased 394,000 doses.. As of April 8, 2024, when the Department of Health officially closed the process, approximately 318,000 patients had been processed.

Among people over 60 years of age, global coverage was 60.62%, below the 75% target set by the Ministry of Health. However, this percentage increases with age. In fact, Begoña Adiego, director of public health and immunization, explains that among Aragonese aged 80 and over it exceeds 81%.and good performance has been achieved in all health sectors. The highest figures are found in Teruel (91.26%) and the lowest in this age group in Zaragoza II (74.92%).

In the population group between 75 and 79 years old in Aragon it is 72.97%; from 65 to 74 59% exceeded; and from 60 to 64 years only 33.08% were vaccinated.

It should be remembered that this campaign was the first to offer the influenza vaccine to children aged 6 to 59 months, where coverage reached 43.57%. However, the highest percentage is observed in the health sector of Zaragoza II (48.01%) and the lowest in Barbastro (34.51%).

The coverage of medical personnel, who were also at risk and for whom this immunization was recommended, also remained far from the desired 75%. According to Adiego, it was about 37%. Due to the lack of specific data, High rates were not achieved among pregnant women either.to whom this vaccine has been recommended. Another new feature of the latest campaign was that smokers were offered a flu shot.

According to Begoña Adiego, “It is clear to older people that the flu vaccine helps avoid complications and deaths“That’s its main purpose – to protect those people for whom influenza can cause very serious illness.” The target group includes children and pregnant women, as “they may suffer complications from influenza that may require hospitalization.”

Representatives from different departments of the Ministry of Health are going to meet, possibly next week, to begin working on a flu campaign: “We are going to look at how we can increase vaccination coverage and try to develop some kind of strategy, particularly targeting health workers and children,” continues the head of the Public Health and Immunization Service. The campaign, he said, We start designing every year before summer “Because it is necessary to prepare the recruitment and calculate the required doses for the target groups recommended by the ministry, taking into account whether any changes will be made.”

Vaccination against covid

Vaccination coverage against Covid was lower than against influenza. Thus, according to public health data, in Aragon, among over 80 years old – about 65%, the rate is similar to the national average, and among people aged 70 to 79 it is 54% (53% in Spain). And from 60 to 69 years old, this percentage is 32.46% in the Community (33.9% in the country as a whole).

“There was a flaw during the campaign: you couldn’t get a Covid vaccine if you had the disease in the previous 3 months,” he recalls. And like many acute respiratory symptoms They are no longer diagnosed, those who have gone through the process have not received the vaccine, and the vaccine has been delayed. “This, as well as the population’s fatigue with vaccination, has led to a decrease in vaccination coverage,” he summarizes.