Vaccine: Health authorizes the booster dose for people over 40 years old | Society

The Ministry of Health has authorized the booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine for those over 40, as reported in a statement this Thursday. The booster will begin to be given to people between the ages of 50 and 59, starting with the oldest. It will be inoculated six months after the initial regimen has ended, so that most people in quarantine will receive the new vaccine between January and February. Until now, the third dose was intended for those over 60, health personnel and people with diseases that made them more vulnerable to covid.

People under 60 years of age vaccinated with AstraZeneca, mainly essential workers such as teachers, firefighters or policemen, will receive the booster shot starting three months after the last dose. Health has also recalled that people of any age with a dose of Janssen vaccine must also receive a booster dose, as established in the Vaccination Strategy.

The Public Health Commission, Made up of the general directors of this area, it insists that immunization should be prioritized in people 12 years of age and in those who have not yet received any dose of the vaccine, as well as in the most vulnerable groups for booster doses.

The Vaccine Commission, the team of technicians that advises the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities, endorsed on Wednesday the reinforcement puncture for those over 50 six months after receiving the last injection, as well as for those on a dual schedule of AstraZeneca. The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) had already recommended inoculation of the third dose for people over 40 on November 24 and several countries such as Israel, Germany, France, the United States and the United Kingdom are already administering it, including for the entire adult population. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also asked at the end of November a booster dose for all adults, with priority for those over 40 years of age, given the increase in cases in the continent and alerted a dramatic increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 over the next two months if drastic measures are not taken to contain the pandemic.

Spain has so far administered more than 81 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus, and the coverage with the complete regimen is 89.6% for the target population, over 11 years of age. 80% of those over 70 years of age in Spain have already received a booster dose, as have 46% of those over 60 and 49% of people who received the Janssen single-dose. In the age group between 60 and 69 years, the coverage of the third dose stands at 46%. The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, explained on Wednesday, after the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, that the vaccination strategy is continually being reviewed and will advance as the technicians advise it.

Communities began on Wednesday to vaccinate 3.3 million children between 5 and 11 years old, a group that now brings together the highest incidents in Spain and that will receive the second puncture eight weeks after the first. The Pfizer pediatric preparation It contains a third of the adult dose and has been shown to be 91% effective against symptomatic covid in this age group.

–