Catalonia The campaign began this Tuesday simultaneous vaccination against flu and covid-19 and he has done it in the residences. In this first phase, which will last three weeks, elderly people living in nursing homes, patients with home care and other institutionalized people will be immunized. Left out, for the moment and waiting for more doses of the vaccine to arrive, the working staff in these centers.
Salut expects to receive 200,000 doses next week to simultaneously immunize residents and workers
The nursing home workers had demanded that the Department of Health take advantage of the visit to the centers to immunize them as well. The Secretary of Public Health of the Generalitat, Carmen Cabezasexplained that at the moment they have arrived “very few” doses. And he has assured that when more doses arrive, residents and workers will be vaccinated simultaneously.
According to Cabezas, with the vaccines that Salut currently has, the more than 65,000 people who live in nursing homes in Catalonia can be immunized. The forecast with which they work is that, starting the first week of October, some 200,000 weekly doses. “Starting next week, if these 200,000 doses really arrive, we will vaccinate simultaneously. But as long as we have the right vaccines for residents, they will understand that we prioritize residents,” Cabezas argued.
For yet another year, the symbolic start of the vaccination campaign has been in the residence Feixa Llarga Laia González de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. That was where the first vaccine against covid in Catalonia: it was in 2020 and the beneficiary was Josefa Pérezan 89-year-old resident.
Thus, the first vaccines will be for the “most vulnerable” people to covid-19 and flu and, as of October 16, Salut plans to start the massive campaign aimed at people over 60 years of age, patients with risk pathologies, pregnant women and health professionals.
Covid, stable
The Secretary of Public Health has explained that, according to current epidemiological indicators, covid-19 is stable in Catalonia and there is no “rush” to start vaccinating groups other than those described in this first phase of the campaign.
When asked about the possibility of vaccinating with old doses, Cabezas stressed that they will administer the vaccine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)which approved it at the end of August, which is why Cabezas believes that fewer vaccines have arrived in September and expects more to arrive in October.
This season, following the instructions of the WHO, all flu vaccines are quadrivalent, that is, they are used for two types of influenza A and two types of influenza B. Regarding vaccines against covid-19, they will largely be monovalents adapted to deal with the XBB.1.5 variant, which is the one most circulating at that time.
2023-09-26 13:41:50
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