Vaccination at all stages of life is necessary to create a healthy society.

The history of vaccines has been marked by persistent challenges, currently notable for adult vaccination and increasing vaccination coverage. These issues are pressing because the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that if vaccination coverage were improved, up to 1.5 million deaths could be averted worldwide.

One of the benefits of vaccination is the protection it gives against respiratory diseases caused by influenza virus, pneumococcus, whooping cough, SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This protection is especially important for vulnerable populations such as young children, the elderly and patients with chronic diseases. Following this award and as part of World Immunization Week, Pfizer and the National Association of Health Informants (ANIS) organized the 7th Pfizer-ANIS Journalists Seminar under the theme “Vaccination takes you through every stage of life.”

In this sense, Maite Hernandez, Director of Public Relations at Pfizer; and Graziella Almendral, President of ANIS, began the meeting by emphasizing its purpose: to convey messages and importance of vaccination for life. “Vaccines are useless if they don’t reach people. One of the problems is that misinformation on health issues is on the rise, and this directly affects people’s thinking and opinions about vaccination. Journalists play an important role in this,” Almendral emphasized.

Vaccination of pregnant women and young children

Vaccination is essential, but vaccination of pregnant women requires a key double immunization. “For a pregnant woman, her immune system is suppressed during pregnancy in order to adapt to the baby, which already entails a risk. By immunizing her, this immunization not only protects her, but is also passed on to the baby, who is born with these acquired antibodies. “Babies are born with an immature immune system, so by immunizing before birth we have already won the battle against some infections,” he said. Carmen Pingarrón, head of the gynecological department at the Quironsalud San José Hospital in Madrid.

In recent years, growth vaccines and monoclonal antibodies have had a major impact on the fight against respiratory infections, despite this, “we have 33 million infections among children every year, with one in six occurring under the age of six. This is due to the associated mortality, which cannot be underestimated,” Pingarron emphasized.

Besides, Maria Garcés Sánchez, pediatrician at the Nazareth Medical Center in Valencia and member of the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatricians (CAV-AEP)added that “it is now possible to protect both mother and child from COVID-19, whooping cough, which has virtually decreased in 80 percent of infants thanks to vaccination; influenza, which also prevents abortion or premature birth, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).”

In addition, the pediatrician wanted to emphasize that flu affects children too and they are the main carriers of the virus to the rest of the population. “More than 40 percent of flu cases occur in children, significantly increasing their hospitalization rates. In this case, it is extremely important to vaccinate the mother because the baby cannot be vaccinated against influenza before six months of age as his immature immune system will not be able to produce antibodies.”

In adulthood

In his speech Isabel Gimeno, family physician, head of the vaccine group of the Spanish Society of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (SEMG) and member of the NeumoExpertos group, took the opportunity to differentiate different types of patients during consultation: apparently healthy people, chronic patients and immunocompromised patients. Although healthy people should be aware of preventive measures, special attention should be paid to groups with chronic diseases and weakened immune systems.

“When chronic patients“Especially in older people, the immune system ages (immunosenescence), and therefore it is important to protect them from infectious diseases to help their immune system fight infection and ensure a good quality of life,” Gimeno explained. , who also emphasized that “our interest is that they live as long as possible, but above all as well as possible.”

Except, Angel Gil, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid and member of NeumoExpertosstressed that “vaccination must be global and must include all countries, including developing countries, since they have more than one billion inhabitants and vaccines are the only tools we have to stop infections.” Likewise, he pointed out that in Spain primary and secondary prevention are good, but that, however, “the inclusion of other health professionals who should be included in the national health system, such as physiotherapists or orthopedists, has not been implemented. And quaternary protection is also not well implemented, where all our people over 80 years of age are multipathological patients who need a differentiated approach.”

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