The military government of Andalusia plans to start a joint influenza and Covid-19 vaccination campaign around October 16, but a specific date has not yet been determined pending the arrival of a coronavirus “memorial vaccine”.
This was made clear by Catalina García, Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, when questioned by journalists in Baeza (Jaén) on Monday, explaining that there are no “separate” vaccinations against the two diseases , “because of failure to comply with regulations.”
“The elderly will only receive one vaccine, but they will not receive two vaccines, so we still don’t have a firm date,” he said. In this sense, he recalled that along with the flu vaccine, there will also be ” The elderly and vulnerable, as well as health professionals” receive booster doses of COVID-19.
In this sense, he said it would start “around October 16th,” adding that this date “has not yet been determined” as he is awaiting the arrival of these coronavirus commemorative doses and that he has “already sent them Ministry of Health.
“They are already vaccines adapted to the new variants. We have said in advance that Andalusia will not receive vaccines that are not adapted to the new variants, because it does not make sense. But Europe has indeed made purchases based on AXBB.1, but at the moment we only have One supplier, and that’s Pfizer,” he commented.
Garcia added that “at the European level, the Moderna vaccine has already been authorized” and hoped that “at the European level, the vaccine will also be purchased from Moderna” because if there are two suppliers, the vaccine will reach us in one go. More fluid allows us to administer the flu combination vaccine.
“So our date has not yet been set, but it will be around that week, waiting to know how many vaccines the Ministry of Health will eventually bring us so that vaccinations do not have to stop. “That is the goal for this year,” he said.
Bronchiolitis
Andalusia has launched an immunization campaign against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the main cause of respiratory infections such as bronchiolitis or pneumonia. As the Health Minister recalled, the date was September 25.
“Since last Thursday, parents of children under six months and children under two years of age with serious illnesses have been summoned and, starting from October 1, all children born between October 1 and March 31 have been Will be vaccinated,” he announced.
The adviser stressed that this was a “very important step forward” in immunization, with more than 63,000 doses administered and $13.8 million invested. He emphasized that “work on vaccines is always an investment” because such vaccines will “prevent severe disease in young children” “for whom there is no drug treatment”.