This year, the Autonomous Community of Madrid will purchase 133,500 doses of the pneumococcal vaccine to protect the elderly from serious infections. A government committee this week authorized the allocation of an investment of €6,054,048 for the purchase.
The initiative will allow people over the age of 60 to be immunized based on recommendations from the General Directorate of Public Health, which also includes them in the vaccination program for adults with risk factors.
Vaccination with the so-called 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine will be carried out at health centers and vaccination sites authorized by the autonomous region government. This is an operation that the autonomous region government has been carrying out since 2005.
This measure responds to recommendations from health authorities in our neighboring countries and will protect the target population from the 20 pneumococcal serotypes that are the most common in our region and responsible for 70% of invasive pneumococci. The disease is highly fatal and an increase has been seen in recent years. If an underlying disease is present, its evolution is usually more severe with older age; other associated pathologies include otitis media and sinusitis as well as serious diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis or meningitis.