This year’s combined vaccination campaign against influenza and Covid-19 began in the last week of September.This was informed after a meeting of the Public Health Committee, where Approval of recommending immunization to certain target groups. Namely: people over 60 years old, high-risk groups, pregnant women and health and social care personnel.
This will be The third year of receiving both vaccines at the same timealso coincided with a period of increasing SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, which have now stabilized: the infection rate in primary care is approximately 130 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, of which 3 cases required hospitalization.
The goal is twofold: On the one hand, it will increase the vaccination coverage achieved last year, and on the other hand, it will reduce severe cases and hospitalizations caused by both viruses. On the second front, vaccines must adapt to new variants. “During the current pandemic, using vaccines that contain old strains of the virus that have disappeared is of no use for booster doses. This is something that people have to understand, but the most important thing is the health authorities and health workers because of the availability of the vaccine , management and recommendations are up to them,” he assured. Raúl Ortíz de Lejarazu, virologist and professor of microbiology, University of Valladolid Vaccine workshop jointly organized by ANIS and Novavax.
And, as he explains Antoni Trilla, Senior Consultant, Preventive Medicine Services, Barcelona Hospital Clinic“We are in a transitional phase: at the moment the virus is still ahead of us and we have no way of knowing what will happen in a few years,” said a professor of public health at the University of Barcelona who attended the meeting. “But we’re a year or so into the “Omicron era” and its different sub-variants, and these are not as relevant as they have been in years past. “We’re in a viral soup. ” «Another soup variant awaits us Those have passed and been replaced by others that were more replicative, the last one being Pirola,” agrees Lejarazu.
The consequence of this situation is that “there is definitely some greater immune evasion. And, although we haven’t seen a major change in the severity of infection, this summer we are seeing an increase in transmission,” Trila continued.
This is why the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) include in their recommendations to ensure population immunity during winter that a monovalent vaccine containing XBB spike protein S should be used for vaccination. 1 lineage (and sublineages XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16) due to its growth advantages and immune evasion properties.That’s why they insist on needing Update vaccine ingredients to respond to new varieties Proposed by SARS-CoV-2.
«The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency clearly stated: Sera used in the next vaccination campaign should contain only strains originating from the XBB family Omicron subvariants. They are monovalent vaccines available as booster doses and primary vaccinations. We are confident that the Ministry of Health will adopt these recommendations in the next campaign for high-risk groups and health personnel,” Trila said. Because “you have to know the difference between a newer vaccine that is available and a vaccine that is not available in the newer version; “Failure The fewer vaccines there are, the more successful the vaccination campaign will be,” Lejaraju said.
As Trilla explains, “The monovalent XBB vaccines we have updated and available in autumn 2023 are from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax. “Today three companies said they could adapt the sera to the current epidemiological situation. Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the latest booster doses of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech in the U.S. The EMA also recommended granting Moderna marketing authorization in Europe.
about Novavax, Toni Lloret, General Manager Southern Europe”, assured that they will continue “working to adapt our monovalent COVID-19 vaccine to the new variants of Ómicron, thus responding to international recommendations, with the aim of being able to provide health authorities with the appropriate tools to immunize people against new variants.” “Sub-variants. “The data demonstrate that our protein-based protein induces a broadly neutralizing response against XBB sub-variants. “We are working with regulators around the world to ensure it is available this fall,” he confirmed.
Why get vaccinated?
Research shows that immunity conferred by SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and infection can reduce the spread of the virus. “The answer to the question of why do I have to get vaccinated is because you’re less likely to get a serious infection, be hospitalized or die,” Trila said.He emphasized that the goal is nevertheless to obtain sera that prevent transmission: “We have vaccines against COVID-19 that are good at preventing severe cases, which helps reduce hospital admissions and mortality;” also They reduce transmission to a certain extent, but not what we want, so we have to continue working on that», Trila concluded.
What about children?
One of the novelties worth noting this winter and in the vaccination program is the recommendation for minors to receive the flu vaccine. Regarding whether this is appropriate for COVID-19, Lejarazu recommended that they get the flu vaccine but not the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, “because from what we’ve seen so far, the difference is that it hardly affects children.” This is especially true with old vaccines because we’re steering the immune system in the wrong direction. “The body will use antibodies that are no longer present in the old virus to fight the new strain, and they will be much less effective. ” «When you have a magic bullet, you have to know how to use it, now what we have to do is protect people who are at risk. Therefore, for pregnant women, people with chronic diseases or immunosuppression, I would increase vaccination of cohabitants (caregivers or family members) of high-risk groups,” the expert continued.