The Balmis Vaccine Institute and the Medical College of the province, with the collaboration of Costa de Almería, celebrate the next 10 and 11 November (Thursday and Friday next week)at XIX International Conference on Vaccine Update Balmis Knows 2022 at the Cervantes Theater.
This annual meeting will bring together another year to the world’s leading vaccination experts. After the success achieved in 2021, the non-profit scientific association returns to hold these prestigious conferences face-to-face and online. Furthermore, subscribers will be able to view the sessions on a deferred basis and on request in the following months.
Although logically the vaccine against covid-19 will have a leading role, especially with a round table on the current status of this vaccination on Thursday afternoon, during the first day, and with an interview on the future of vaccines from the pharmaceutical industry point of view on Friday. , the director of the conference, Francisco Giménez, a pediatrician from Almeria, points out that this year There will also be interesting debates and presentations on other vaccines that may have gone more unnoticed since the start of the pandemic for public opinion but which have continued to exist, as progress and research have continued in many other fields.
covid table “At the covid table we will talk about current events on the vaccine in the world, on the main news, on the types of vaccines, given that we already have, for example, the bivalent, which protects against two strains, and on how many doses to obtain, as well as Another controversial and controversial issue: the vaccination of children under the age of five, as it is thought that with current strains and the way they affect children, there is no point in giving the vaccine. Another thing would be that other strains give rise to serious conditions in the future, ”says the conference director.
As for the new vaccines outside covid, the conference will address on Friday from 9:00, for example, how to fight them herpes zoster, better known as colubrin, because an effective vaccine has been developed thanks to research. In this same session we will talk on the prevention of respiratory syncytial viruswhich, as Dr. Giménez says, “causes bronchiolitis in children” and in fact, he says, “has already been seen in consultations”.
The pediatrician emphasizes, in relation to this topic, the presence of Asunción Mejías, of Columbus University (Ohio), “Who has developed research for a vaccine against this virus, which can cause serious harm through transmission from a pregnant woman to her baby. This vaccine is given to the woman and at the same time the fetus is immunized.
Complaint
Universal influenza vaccination will be another topic to be debated, in this case on Friday from 3.30 pm, with presentations on the situation of childhood vaccination in Finland; universal vaccination in the United States e vaccination recommendations in Spain. “In the case of the flu it is advisable for children under the age of five, because it has been shown that they have a great chance of suffering from serious conditions that require hospitalization. Furthermore, vaccinating children protects the elderly in contact with them, ”says Giménez.
Finally, the director of the conference highlights two “very important” sessions: the one that it will bring together representatives of the six major pharmaceutical industries, who will talk about their vaccines and news; and, on the other, the round table on “A health: a broader view of vaccines”, moderated by Tesifón Parrón Carreño of Almería, doctor, head of service at the territorial delegation for health and professor at the University of Almería.
More than 800 subscribers
Francisco Giménez, who in turn directs the Balmis Vaccine Institute, reports that a week earlier the same people had already registered last year, more than 800, even if in this edition the face-to-face participation is getting stronger again and represents half of the records. In 2021, on the other hand, online registrations were the majority, with about 550, compared to 250 face-to-face. In addition, of the 400 people who will attend the Cervantes Theater, about 300 will come from other Spanish cities and from abroad.
In short, for this edition the organization has set up a very complete program that addresses immunization against major preventable diseases and which are very topical, such as influenza, HPV, Covid-19, meningococci and pneumococcal diseases, among others.
The conference, one of the most prestigious and longest running meetings on vaccinology in the world and which places Almería as the vaccine capital every year, will begin with aQuick course for vacunologists, by the Director of the Institute of Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fernando Fariñas Guerrero, and Dr. Rolando Ulloa Gutiérrez, assistant specialist in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of the National Pediatric Hospital of Costa Rica.
