The vaccination campaign against covid keep moving on Aragonwhere 2.9 million doses have already been inoculated since the end of December 2020. Two years and seven months after the process began in the nursing homes, the health system continues to administer this drug. For the next 14 days there were 4,077 scheduled appointments, according to information provided last Thursday by the Ministry of Health. 379 of them corresponded to children between 5 and 11 years old, an age range where coverage does not reach 50%.
And meanwhile, health centers continue to inoculate this vaccine, especially third doses (3,274 in the last week, compared to 595 in the second). Once the pace of this process slowed down, the hours and days in which this drug is administered in outpatient clinics were reduced, in order to avoid wasting vials. In the last week, in fact, according to the figures handled by the Department of Health, 3,479 injections were given, a figure that has been maintained with slight variations in recent months. In the previous week there were 3,641 and in the previous one, 3,544.
The campaign will pick up steam again in the fall, with the fourth doses, intended for people over 80 years old, first, and 60, later, according to initial forecasts. On the table of the Ministry is specifying the exact date to administer these injections, although it could be from the second half of September. The decision, in any case, depends on the Public Health Commission and the Interterritorial Council.
Inma Cuestasecretary of the National Association of Nursing and Vaccines (Anenvac) and member of the working group that prepares the Strategy for vaccination against covid-19 in Spain, of the Ministry of Healthrecalled that the pandemic has not passed and, as long as it continues, the campaign has to be active. “We must continue to make an effort by health authorities, professionals and society in general to get vaccinated and maintain prevention measures. Vaccination is the basic pillar to control covid, as has been shown.”
Increase coverage
The desirable goal, he said, would be to achieve high coverage in certain age groups, such as children, to expand complete guidelines, and third doses in those under 45 years of age. In fact, around three out of ten young people between the ages of 20 and 44 have received the booster. “It is about avoiding, above all, the serious forms of the disease,” added Cuesta.
In Aragón, the new BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variants are dominant, to the point that from July 11 to 17, according to information from the Ministry, the percentage of these two lineages, considered more contagious, was 98%. However, Cuesta added, the cases “do not show serious symptoms, in general”, so the number of admissions and deaths is lower than that of previous waves. Before the vaccination scheduled for autumn, he pointed out, the ideal would be to already have specific vaccines for the new variants of the virus that are circulating now.
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