The 2023 combined influenza and COVID-19 vaccination campaign was launched in Castile and Leon in October. Vaccination will begin next Tuesday, the 3rd, in Castile and León for the sheltered population, and a week later, on October 10, it will be for the general population among those recommended for vaccination.
Regarding the flu, the campaign will target those who are at higher risk of developing complications from the flu, as well as those who may be at higher risk of transmitting the flu to other complications.
The aim of vaccination against covid-19 is to increase protection of the most vulnerable people and health and social care staff, in order to reduce mortality and the impact of the disease on care capacity.
Vaccinated groups
Flu and Covid-19 vaccinations are recommended for:
• Persons 60 years of age or older.
•Persons aged 5 years or older in centers and nursing homes for persons with disabilities, as well as other long-term institutionalized persons and residents of closed institutions.
•Under 60 years of age with the following risk conditions: diabetes and Cushing’s syndrome, morbid obesity, chronic cardiovascular, neurological or respiratory disease (including bronchopulmonary dysplasia), cystic fibrosis and asthma, chronic kidney disease and nephropathy Syndrome, hemoglobinopathies and anemia or hemophilia, other coagulation disorders and chronic bleeding disorders, as well as patients with blood products and multiple transfusions, asplenia or severe splenic dysfunction, chronic liver disease (including chronic alcoholism), severe neuromuscular Disease, immunosuppression (including primary immunodeficiency and due to HIV infection) or drugs, and transplant recipients and complement deficiencies – cancer and hematological malignancies, cerebrospinal fluid fistulas and cochlear implantation or waiting, celiac disease, chronic inflammation Diseases that cause cognitive impairment – Down syndrome, dementia and others.
•Pregnant women in any trimester of pregnancy and women in the postpartum period – women who have not been vaccinated within 6 months after giving birth and during pregnancy.
•Persons living with highly immunosuppressed persons.
•Personnel from public and private health and social care centres.
Workers in essential public services, such as national security forces and corps, firefighters or civil protection personnel, etc.
Flu vaccination recommendations
• Population of children aged 6 to 59 months. This is a novelty in the immunization calendar of Castilla and León. Children 6 to 23 months will receive the vaccine intramuscularly, and children 24 to 59 months will receive the vaccine intranasally.
•Personnel from educational centers at any level of education.
• People between the ages of 5 and 59 are at higher risk for complications from the flu. This group includes smokers.
•Students doing internships at the Center for Health and Social Care.
•People who work on farms, poultry farms, pig farms or mink farms or who come into contact with wild animals.
Types of Flu Vaccine
Specifically, the available vaccines correspond to five types, which are administered at different vaccination sites every week:
• 300,000 doses of quadrivalent inactivated vaccine – available from 6 months of age – ideally administered to the healthy general population between 6 and 23 months of age and 60 to 64 years of age, as well as those in risk groups (Vaxigrip tetra, €2,964,000).
• 430,000 doses of adjuvanted quadrivalent inactivated vaccine for use in the non-institutionalized general population aged 65 years and over (Fluad tetra, €5,813,600).
• 50,000 quadrivalent inactivated units with high antigenic load, aimed at serving people over 60 years of age in nursing homes and highly dependent people at home (Efluelda, €1,300,000).
• 500 doses of the quadrivalent inactivated vaccine for people allergic to antibiotics (Flucelvax tetra, €4,004).
• 25,000 doses of the quadrivalent attenuated vaccine for intranasal administration, targeting children aged 24 to 59 months (Fluenz tetra, €445,454.10).
Vaccine against covid-19
The vaccine against covid-19 to be administered in the 2023-2024 season is a monovalent vaccine against the XBB.1.5 subvariant of the omicron strain (preferably XBB.1.5), which ensures protection against the circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 Provide protection.
Until the last week of October, Castile and Leon will receive just over 400,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the Ministry of Health. These vaccines are administered weekly. So far, nearly 26,000 doses of the vaccine have arrived at the Territorial Health Service.
Vaccination
Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations will begin on October 3 at senior centers and continue on October 10 for the general population within recommended vaccination groups. For those accommodated in residences, their vaccination will be carried out by health professionals from each health district of Castile and León, who will visit these institutions to receive both vaccines. Their presence will be used to vaccinate the professionals working there.
Health and social hygiene staff will be able to receive both vaccines in the workplace by referring to occupational health services. For the remaining people aged 60 and above and those under 60 with risk factors, each health district determines where vaccinations are available and how to make appointments based on social, demographic and health conditions. . , among others.
You can apply for a vaccination appointment a few days before October 10 through the usual channels: the Sacyl Conecta app, the phone number of your health center and the Castile and Leon Health Portal.
For the 2023-2024 vaccination campaign, the Ministry of Health has purchased 805,500 doses of influenza vaccine. Total expenditure was €10,527,058, which included a new intranasal vaccine for children aged 24 to 59 months.