Neither the spikes in infections in China and the United States nor the appeals from health professionals are, for now, making the fourth dose of the vaccine against covid-19 takeoff in Spain. 73.8% of those over 80 years of age have received the second booster dose, according to the latest report published this Friday by the Ministry of Health, a low figure that becomes much more disappointing if it is extended to all those over 60 years of age, where it stands only at 56%, and even worse in the group of 60 to 69 years, with a very poor 42%, very far from the levels of the first two doses of the vaccine, which reach 92.6% among those over 12 years of age. In the last week, only 124,527 over the age of 60 have received their fourth puncture.
During December, coinciding with the outbreak in China after the end of the ‘zero covid’ policy, Spanish scientific societies insisted on asking the population, and especially the most vulnerable (over 60 years of age and those who suffer from a chronic disease) , that the fourth dose of the vaccine will be administered. This new injection, which the Ministry of Health had taken longer to approve than other countries, had been available to the elderly since the end of September, but for the first time, appeals to the need to be vaccinated met with reluctance among Spaniards, who They were among those who had been most immunized in previous campaigns against covid. “In 2021, everything was easier because people wanted to receive the vaccine. But now we are at a moment as important as that,” said Ángel Gil, professor of Public Health at the Rey Juan Carlos University almost a month ago. Before Christmas, the Spanish Association of Vaccination (AEV) began an awareness campaign for the holidays, a time when contacts and, therefore, infections increase.
Also the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, who in recent months has barely appealed to the importance of the fourth dose, as she had done with the previous ones, began to demand that the percentages be increased. On Thursday, the Public Health Commission and Darias asked to “intensify” the second booster puncture because it “saves lives.” In its administration, bivalent vaccines are already used, that is, adapted to the omicron variant.
In fact, Vaccines protect against all sublineages of the virus., including XBB.1.5, known unofficially as kraken, which has caused an increase in infections in the United States. Yesterday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) sent an optimistic message by reporting that according to early research, there are no signs that XBB.1.5 causes a coronavirus infection. more severe than the omicron subvariants that have previously circulated in Europe.
Specialists, however, remain hopeful and believe that in the coming weeks, once the holidays are over, there may be a significant increase in booster doses. They rely on the example of the Basque Country, where appointments for the fourth dose have sold out this week. In addition, now the entire population, and not just the elderly, can be inoculated with the vaccine.
