Coronavirus ‘has persisted’ and is entering post-pandemic phase, experts say
Santander, 31 August (European Press Agency) –
Virologists, pediatricians, and vaccine experts said that flu and new crown vaccinations will not be promoted this fall because although the two have “slight differences,” they are “complementary.”
So, on the one hand, they endorse the recommendation to vaccinate against seasonal influenza “all” children between the ages of six months and five years, the age group most affected by this infection. On the other hand, they said the coronavirus vaccine would only be aimed at the “target population”, that is, those with risk factors such as age or previous medical history.
Raúl Ortiz de Lejarazu, scientific advisor and honorary director of the National Influenza Center of Valladolid, met with Andalusia’s coordinator and coordinator of the Corona Vaccination Program in Santander on Thursday. This was explained at a press conference held by Vaccine Consultant pediatrician David Moreno, member of the Spanish Pediatric Association and coordinator of the Research Center of the Pediatric Institute of Seville, Ignacio Salaman Card.
The three appeared in front of the media while participating in the “Ninth Vaccine Update and New Approach Conference”. Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination schedule has changed, the course taught by the Menendez Pelayo International University.
The Director of the Influenza Center and the UIMP Curriculum pointed out that the Spanish Pediatric Association recommended the vaccination of all children last year, and in this regard underlined that the upcoming event will be free.
Unlike COVID-19, as he puts it, “flu kills healthy children, but very rarely,” but depending on the severity of the virus and the conditions it causes, between nine and fourteen children and adolescents die each year, “half of them “There were no deaths and there were additional risk factors.
He therefore recalled that the World Health Organization had made recommendations in this regard more than a decade ago, Salamanca added, and because influenza “is not a disease of the elderly”, protecting children is the same as protecting everyone else. population.
At this point they compare, while 3 out of 10 minors get the flu, only 10% of people over 18 get the flu, although the problem is that for many people over 65, This could be their “last” infection.
Ortiz said flu and COVID-19 vaccinations are “parallel” but not “identical,” before saying that vaccines against the coronavirus are aimed at the elderly and vulnerable, as well as health workers, which is his goal this year. priorities. World Health Organization itself. The latter represented a “deficit” for “vaccinated” countries like Spain, he added.
Virologists explain that 75% to 80% of the population in rich countries are now immune to the new coronavirus because they have been infected with the virus, vaccinated, or both, so it is now recommended to apply it only to the target population, For example the elderly.
As he warns, age is a risk factor, and since the death rate of infected people increases by 1% or 1.5% every five years after age 65, these people should not be “out of question.” Speaking of vaccinations.
Asked what vaccine to get, Ortiz suggested a vaccine that is “as advanced as possible” and “minimizes” the escape of the new coronavirus, which has not yet stabilized as it continues to mutate.
In other words, Moreno points out in this regard that, this fall, drugs against the isolated virus strains should be used.
The pediatrician focused on recommendations to vaccinate people with medical conditions, including children, in “very rare cases,” he said, such as people with congenital immune deficiencies or undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy. And the virus has a “minimal or zero” fatality rate for healthy children under five.
Coronavirus will live forever
As for the pandemic itself, Ortiz said the acute phase of the pandemic, as well as the early post-pandemic phase, is over, which is why we are now moving towards the post-pandemic phase, because the virus “has come” to leave us lifetime. ” And removing those factors that affect humans is “difficult.”
However, his prediction for the next decade is that it “may” be better suited to our species as well as a vaccine, and that the new coronavirus will have its “niche affected”, he concludes.