Although the pandemic brought our country out of stagnation that was living in coverage in vaccines such as flu during the 2016-2022 period-in which especially low data were recorded compared to the historical series (they were 55% ) -, The figures in adults resist reaching 75% recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Despite the efforts, the current coverage are insufficient, especially in cases such as pneumococcal disease,” said Virtual Congress in Vaccines María Pilar Arrazola, head of the Preventive Medicine Service of the Hospital 12 de Octubre, October 12, Madrid.
On the 50th anniversary of the implementation of the child vaccination calendar in Spain, experts stand out as a great challenge to improve vaccination rates in adults to the point of equating them with children. The coverage, alert, are low in the flu and much lower for the COVID-19.
34% of the population ‘Diana’ did not vaccinate the flu
Fernando Moraga-Llop, pediatrician and spokesman of the Spanish Association of Vaccination (AEV), explains that the flu vaccine is a good meter to know where we are. According to data from the Ministry of Health, in the 2023-2024 period around 67% of adults over 65 years of age were administered. This means that one in three people in this population group dispensed with the dose.
Spain, however, is not in a bad position with respect to the rest of Europe and the world: we are the second country of the European Union (EU) where the child vaccination calendar is most fulfilled, according to A study published last year at Expert Review of Vaccines and in 2022 We were the room with the most flu vaccination rate in people 65 years of age or olderbehind Denmark, Portugal and Ireland (which do exceed 75%).
Reaching this famous percentage of immunization for those high -risk respiratory transmission diseases is key, among other things, to protect those most vulnerable groups, reduce virus circulation and avoid saturation in health systems, as well as to achieve immunity from Flock, reduce serious complications and minimize the economic impact caused by the disease. An analysis of the Office of Health Economics in London estimated that for each euro invested in vaccines, 18.30 euros are generated in benefits for society and the economy.
Insufficient rates also for COVID-19 or herpes zoster
Regarding the 2023-2024 campaign of vaccination against COVID-19, the Ministry of Health reported that 47.0% of those over 60 and 65.3% of those over 80 received the pertinent doses (Modified doses to offer protection against specific variants or strains).
Vaccination coverage beyond childhood in Herpes Zóster, pneumococc
The vaccination coverage beyond childhood in Herpes Zóster, pneumococcus, as well as in DTAP (diphtheria, tetanus and whore cough), are other indicators that should be seen when trying to make a faithful portrait of the fulfillment of the adult vaccination calendar, explain The experts. However, not all communities publish this data, which makes complete drawing difficult.
In the Community of Madrid, for example, the population ‘Diana’ – the population group referred to in the calendar – vaccinated with respect to Herpes Zoster in 2024 with full pattern was 41%. Regarding pneumococcus, at the end of 2022, vaccination coverage of the Madrid population of 60 years or more were 50.9% for people without risk conditions, and 45.3% for those who had at least one condition of risk. These rates are insufficient, the immunologists consulted warn.
Why we still do not achieve 75%
“The problems of coverage of adulthood are not due to a matter of trust, because if not, we would not vaccinate children. But information is missing for professionals and for people and strategies in this regard, ”he said. Arrazola in Congress. This is corroborated by the newly published report Trust in scientific science and populism in Spain of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). 80.4% of Spaniards agree that vaccines are necessary to protect people’s health. Of the remaining percentage, only 2.3% are totally against.
Moraga-Llop explains that one of the reasons that vaccination rates in adults are not yet comparable to children’s historical causes: “The first calendar in the state included only children of up to 12 years.” “That had an initial justification, because that calendar resulted from what it had begun 10 years ago, in 1963, with vaccination campaigns, first of the polio, and after diphtheria, tetanus and people’s cough (DTP), which was They did in children exclusively, ”he recalls.
It was not until 2019 when the common calendar of vaccination throughout life entered into force in Spain. To date, each community had its own calendar, although most followed similar guidelines. The new program, however, marked an important change in the vaccination strategy in Spain, and is updated according to scientific recommendations.
There are studies that show that, specifically, the recommendation by nurses increases vaccination coverage.
Immaculate Cuesta
– Representative of the General Council of Nursing and Vocal in the Nursing and Vaccines Association (ANENVAC)
At that time, the children’s calendar had already woven a “culture of vaccination” in the professionals of the pediatric specialty that the new program has not yet achieved in the rest of the areas: “In pediatrics studies, vaccination is A very important issue, which occurs a lot. On the other hand, in practically the rest of the specialties, much less explain, ”he says.
Result: the toilets do not preach with the example either. Less than half are vaccinated against the flu. To Moraga-Llop this data seems “disappointing and worrying.” “A person who does not vaccinate does not have the ability to transmit to the other the need to vaccinate,” he says.
Immaculate Cuesta, representative of the General Council of Nursing and Vocal in the Nursing and Vaccines Association (ANENVAC), expresses that there are studies that show that, specifically, the recommendation by nurses increases vaccination coverage, and recalls the “ethical aspect And moral “that should be associated with this group of the population, since” if they contract a flu and transmit it to a person with a risk pathology, that person can have an important complication. ”
We must take that culture to the sites that adult people frequent by leisure, for cultural activities, for sports activities, because they are healthy people who often do not go to the health center
Immaculate Cuesta
– Representative of the General Council of Nursing and Vocal in the Nursing and Vaccines Association (ANENVAC)
“The second reason for this difference in compliance with the calendar is that the healthy adult banalizes diseases because, precisely, it is well,” he explains. “Then he does not think that, for example, a Herpes Zóster can produce an important complication, nor a pneumonia, nor a flu, nor a tetanus,” he says.
Remove vaccines from health centers
Therefore, the solutions pass, precisely, to stop these two factors. One of them, says Cuesta, could be to ‘take out’ the vaccines of the health centers: “that is, that culture must be taken to the sites frequent adults by leisure, cultural or sports activities. Because they are healthy people who often do not go to the health center, to the vaccination point. ”
From the AEV they also advocate enhancing vaccination in health degrees, in addition to getting some training in schools because, the spokesman argues, “we must start since we are small.”
It is summarized in the phrase of ‘some forget the diseases, but the diseases do not forget us”
Dr. Fernando Moraga-Llop
– Pediatrician and Senior spokesperson of the Spanish Association of Vaccination (AEV)
Finally, they are a “multidisciplinary work”, since “health authorities also have to think about attractive information campaigns, because they often do not hook, and how the messages communicate.” “With Covid it has been mutating. Therefore, there is no longer talking about ‘memory vaccine in front of Covid-19’. You have to talk about ‘updated vaccine’, ”Cuesta Remata.
Diseases do not forget about us
She, as a nurse, tries to raise awareness that there are diseases that have been eradicated, such as smallpox, thanks to mass vaccination, and that “there are diseases that are in the process of eradication or that are controlled, but we need high vaccination coverage ”
But that they have eradicated does not mean that they have disappeared: “Many times people think that diseases such as measles or polio have already disappeared, and it is not so, because when you stop vaccinating the diseases they return. Some forget the diseases, but diseases do not forget us, ”says Moraga-Llop.
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