The web appointment for the vaccination of children under 5 against the flu through the Murciasalud portal and the mobile application has been operational since today, Monday 12 December.
The Murciano Health Service (SMS) has contacted all health areas, the regional government reports in a press release, so that, as far as possible, agendas are opened in the afternoon in health centers that can be organized to increase the number of vaccines administered daily and improve accessibility to citizens.
The Region of Murcia is the first autonomous community in the country to administer the pediatric flu vaccine through the nose in health centers to children aged between 2 and 5, starting November 2.
Babies between 6 and 23 months will receive the conventional intramuscular vaccine.
Vaccines that are administered through the mucous membranes usually have a better response than intramuscular vaccines, as they act directly on the pathogen’s entry gate into the body.
The pioneering use of this vaccine in the Murcia region will serve to carry out an acceptability study that could be useful in future decision-making and which will also serve as a guide for other autonomous communities.
More than 58,000 consultations in Pediatrics
The influenza virus represents a significant burden of disease in children under 5 years of age. Nationwide, between the 2013 and 2019 seasons, influenza in this age group accounted for an annual average of 58,640 Primary Care consultations.
68 percent of children under 5 hospitalized with a serious diagnosis were children without any disease or risk factor, healthy children for whom the flu led to hospitalization. Of them, 56% required ICU admission.
