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Almost half of people between the ages of 70 and 79 have received the first dose of the covid vaccine

2021-04-21T08:33:47.559Z


Experts hope that the support of the European Medicines Agency for Janssen's drug will give a boost to the immunization campaign, which also takes off in the group of 60 to 69


Vaccination of the most vulnerable age groups has stepped on the accelerator.

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, 45.4% of people between 70 and 79 years old have already received a dose of the vaccine, that is, more than double that of last Tuesday (21.4%).

This group had been parked in the immunization campaign in recent months due to lack of vaccines for them: those of Pfizer and Moderna were prioritized for those over 80 and those of AstraZeneca are only indicated for people between 60 and 69 years old.

In recent days, punctures have also accelerated in the 60 to 69-year-old group - 38.5% already have an injection - after the administration of the first one is almost completed (98.8%). doses to those over 80. Experts agree that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) endorsement of Janssen's single-dose vaccine - the EMA considers the benefit greater than the risk after studying eight cases of thrombosis reported among millions of vaccinated in the US — will further streamline coverage for these higher-risk groups.

More information

  • Those over 70 recover the loaned land

  • The rate of vaccination of the most vulnerable depends on the decision of the European regulator on Janssen

The effects of mass vaccination in nursing homes and in those over 80 are already seen in the figures of hospitalizations and deaths and, in the case of centers for the elderly, for example, infections and deaths have already fallen more than 95%. But the global stock of immunized is low - 20% of the population has a dose, but only 7.3% has the complete schedule - and the punctures have not prevented another scourge of the virus. With an accumulated incidence of more than 230 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the epidemic curve in Spain is still dealing with the fourth wave and epidemiologists urge to accelerate the vaccination of the most vulnerable groups.

"Vaccination affects the curve because we are seeing that the impact of Easter is much less than that of the December bridge, for example. The curve has increased in a smoother way and has not had as much impact on hospitalizations, ”says José Luis Barranco, spokesman for the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene. However, the health worker warns: “We cannot get carried away by emotion or get used to such high incidents because the covid continues to saturate the entire health system and affects everything. An incidence of 250 cases per 100,000 is an extreme risk, wherever it comes from ”.

Experts assume, however, that although your guard cannot be lowered, there is an atmosphere of more “tranquility”. Especially due to the increase in vaccines that arrive - Pfizer sends between 1.2 and 1.7 million a week - and the acceleration in the immunization of the elderly, who are more vulnerable to the virus. The vast majority of those over 80 are already vaccinated with the first dose (62% have the full schedule) and shipments of Pfizer and Moderna drugs have been prioritized to the age group between 70 and 79 years. In fact, around 66% of the 1.4 million doses inoculated by Pfizer and Moderna in the last week have gone to this group. The rest have been destined to second doses of people over 80, to the elderly or health personnel who lagged behind at the time and to people with very high risk conditions,such as oncology or transplant patients.

“Day up, day down, all the communities are putting everything they have. The stoppage of AstraZeneca [Spain temporarily paralyzed its use while the EMA investigated its link with rare cases of thrombi] has taken its toll and there are people who have not attended the appointment to get vaccinated, but we will recover all those people ", says Salvador Peiró , epidemiologist at the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research. 88% of Pfizer doses received, 95.5% of AstraZeneca and 59% of Moderna have already been inoculated. “The Moderna thing is a logistics issue. Very few arrive and you use them for very specific groups. In the Valencian Community we vaccinate front-line private health personnel with Moderna. So few arrive that you cannot trust them and you keep them [for second doses] ”,explains Peiró.

The EMA's approval of the Janssen vaccine, which is planned to be allocated to the 70 to 79-year-old group, will be, according to Barranco, "a very strong boost to the vaccination campaign." Spain expects to receive this month 300,000 doses of the 5.5 million sponsored throughout the second quarter. “If this is unlocked, the vaccines are going to be fired. With 300,000 doses you will have 300,000 people with the complete regimen. Perhaps we will spend two rare weeks until everything is clarified and the vaccination strategy is updated, but when May begins, the reality will change radically: they will be vaccinated much and faster, ”Barranco tends. Amós García, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination, agrees: “Vaccination is being promoted in the 70 and 79-year-old group, which had been somewhat off the hook and is going to receive a significant acceleration with the opinion of the EMA.It is reasonable that it be incorporated into the vaccination policy of the EU and the possibility of an acceleration will be greater ”.

If the four vaccines - Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca - arrive at the expected pace and without any hiccups in distribution, the Government assumes that the goal of having 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer will be met.

In fact, President Pedro Sánchez announced in early April that 85 million vaccines will arrive in six months.

The challenge ahead now, experts say, is for communities to be able to manage and administer the volume of doses that are expected to arrive.

"The great challenge of the communities will be to exhibit enough muscle to vaccinate everything that arrives, not to neglect the control of transmission and awaken the rest of the health system and non-covid processes," Barranco ditch.

For now, this is how vaccination progresses in Spain:

Andalusia

More than 600,000 Andalusians, 7.25% of the total population, have completed the vaccination schedule. Andalusia, according to the data provided by the spokesperson of the Board, Elías Bendodo, injects 99.3% of the doses that are arriving, which has already allowed 1.6 million people to be given an injection, including 100 % of those over 80 years of age (around 400,000). 74.9% of those who are part of this age group already have both punctures.

The vaccination of vulnerable people, which began two weekends ago, follows the expected rhythm, say sources from the Ministry of Health, who still do not have percentages. The only setback occurred at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville, where a computer failure that prevented access to the patient's history forced to suspend the vaccination of this risk group throughout Saturday, resuming on Sunday.

At the moment vaccination continues to be carried out in health centers and in sports or university pavilions authorized for this procedure, which is summoned through a telephone call or an SMS.

The percentage of refusal to receive vaccines has risen to 1.1% due, the consulted sources explain, to the prevention of injecting the AstraZeneca serum, a refusal that over the past week fell from 20% to 5 %.

The Board has proposed to the Ministry of Health to space the injection of the doses of Pfizer and Moderna to guarantee the immunization of more people for the summer, an initiative that has the rejection of the College of Physicians of Andalusia, which asks that vaccines be put "in time and form."

Aragon

Aragón will distribute a total of 52,316 doses this week: 41,286 from Pfizer, 7,030 from Moderna and 4,000 from AstraZeneca.

Of these, 35,376 will go to people over 71 years of age, 4,000 will go to people between 60 and 65 years old, 410 for health personnel and residences and 12,530 for second doses of other priority groups.

During that week, in addition, the community continues to vaccinate people with very high-risk conditions, such as transplants, dialysis patients, cancer patients and people with HIV.

The regional government has indicated that, for these groups, at the end of last week 10,000 doses were distributed to hospitals, which organize the vaccination of these groups.

Asturias

Asturias has administered more than 380,000 doses and has almost completed the vaccination schedule for people institutionalized in residential centers. Also the coverage of those over 80 with one dose is 98% (70% with the two punctures) and in the group from 70 to 79 it is 45.5%. In people between 60 and 69 it exceeds 40%.

The community has several vaccination points that are being implemented depending on the vaccine shipment available.

There are several distributed throughout the territory: some in a "more permanent" way, according to spokespersons for the Health area, and others that are activated according to the needs of each area so that users can go by car.

People with mobility difficulties or large dependents are being vaccinated at home.

That group is already finishing the two doses in some health areas.

Balearics

So far in the Balearic Islands, about 264,000 doses of vaccines against the coronavirus have been applied.

Currently there are almost 199,000 people with the first dose and 64,000 with the full regimen.

This week 30,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca will arrive on the islands.

Vaccines are being administered in health centers to those over 70 years of age and people at risk, while the rest of the ages and people belonging to priority groups are being cited at the vaccination centers set up for this purpose in the four islands .

The BITCITA web portal has already given time to vaccinate 527 people and from this Monday, people born between the years 1956 to 1960 can request it.

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands have immunized 127,306 people with the two doses of the vaccine, representing 6.8%, according to the community.

19.9% ​​of the target population already has a dose administered.

The regional government has informed this Tuesday of the opening of two new vaccination centers in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Fairgrounds, granted by the Cabildo de Tenerife, and the Magma Arte & Congresos, in the town of Adeje (tourist municipality to the south ).

These two points have the capacity to vaccinate more than 1,200 people a day, and will initially focus on the age group between 60 and 69 years.

These two new locations join other vaccination centers in Gran Canaria, such as the island's fairgrounds (Infecar) and Expomeloneras, in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the main tourist town in the south of the island.

Cantabria

Cantabria has administered 27,757 doses in the last week and there are already 120,000 people vaccinated with at least one dose.

95% of those over 80 years of age are already vaccinated, 68% with both doses of the vaccine.

Regarding the following group, the 70 to 79 years old, 49% have already received the first puncture, while in the 60-65 year old group the percentage of vaccinated is 25%.

The community does not need much more than vaccination data.

The doses are injected in health centers and in a vaccination facility in Santander, which is joined by another in Castro Urdiales, one of the most populated towns in the region, to continue speeding up immunizations.

Cantabria is going to receive 21,750 doses this week for the population between 60 and 79 years old.

Castile and Leon

Castilla y León is vaccinating at home people who, due to dependency or other circumstances, could not travel to receive the dose.

In turn, each management is organizing its immunization mechanisms based on its population and its dispersion.

Provinces like Soria do not have large authorized facilities because they are not being authorized for reasons of demographic dispersion.

Since the start of the vaccination campaign, Castilla y León has administered more than 850,000 doses and more than 496,000 people have at least one puncture.

That is, 28.5% of its population.

Castilla la Mancha

Castilla-La Mancha continues this week the immunization of people aged 70 to 79 years, 60 to 65 and the population of group seven, the one considered very high risk - such as transplants or those who are waiting for a transplant, patients from hemodialysis or those who are receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy - in the vaccination strategy of the Ministry of Health.

The community has administered more than 569,000 doses since November 27 and already has 23% of its population vaccinated with a puncture.

Coverage in those over 80 years of age is 98.5% with one dose and exceeds 36% in the 70 to 79 age group and in the 60 to 69 age group.

Catalonia

Catalonia has immunized 20.4% of its population with a dose, and has completed the program at 6.5%.

In total, the Health department has inoculated 95% of the doses received, and the next few weeks will be dedicated to administering second doses.

Catalonia supplied more than 300,000 doses last week, which is a weekly record.

The community has already immunized 95% of the users of the residences, while the health professionals of Primary and Hospital Care reach 84%.

The Generalitat is currently vaccinating groups of different ages simultaneously: 97.7% of those over 80 have received at least one puncture.

Coverage decreases between 70 and 79 years (42%) and between 66 and 69 (28%).

51% of people between the ages of 60 and 65 have received the first dose.

Primary care centers are taking on the main task of vaccination.

More than 400 health centers administer the doses, while the department enables 46 additional vaccination points in the weeks that it receives more than 200,000 weekly doses.

Valencian Community

Septuagenarians are the recipients of more than 66% of the vaccines that the Valencian Community plans to inject this week, totaling 185,000.

The boost in immunization to this age group is evidenced in the data, since the percentage of those who have received at least the first dose has doubled compared to the previous week and exceeds 40% of the total Valencian population of between 70 and 79 years.

The rhythm follows the planned march with the large mass vaccination centers as a strategy to inoculate as quickly as possible, up to 600 doses per hour.

The most complicated group is that of the chronic, due to their special characteristics, the need to wait for other medical issues or reduced mobility.

Estremadura

Extremadura has administered 353,535 doses since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, 91% of the doses received.

In the community there are already more than 252,000 people with at least one inoculated puncture and 100,000 with a completed vaccination schedule.

The regional government has finished the immunization with the first dose of those over 80 and has 73% with the second puncture.

In people between 70 and 79 years old, the coverage is 58%.

Galicia

Some 652,000 Galicians, 27% of the target population, have already received at least one dose of the covid vaccine, while about 225,000 of them have completed the regimen. According to the latest data released by the Xunta, mass vaccinations have accelerated the progress of the campaign among the elderly: 95% of those who exceed 80% have been inoculated at least the first injection and the same happens to more than the half of the people who are between 70 and 79 years old.

Vaccinations are being carried out mainly in hospitals and large spaces, including several fairgrounds and the cultural complex of the City of Culture of Santiago.

Last weekend, 32,560 people in the 60-65 and 70-79 age ranges were immunized at these vaccination centers, representing 75% of those summoned.

In educational centers, immunization with the first dose has reached 86% of the staff, both teachers and non-teachers.

Until its administration was interrupted, this group received the AstraZeneca serum "without detecting any serious adverse reaction", underlines the Ministry of Health.

Nor have there been any major problems in the rest of the groups.

The Rioja

La Rioja plans to vaccinate more than 12,500 Riojans this week.

Specifically, the community

progresses with the administration of the first doses to the population from 60 to 65 and from 70 to 79 and also from the second to those over 80. The community has already completed the first puncture to 100% of those over 80 and is around 40% in the groups from 70 to 79 and from 60 to 69.

The Palacio de Congresos, Riojaforum, will be the epicenter of vaccination in Logroño and, simultaneously, the Riojan Government has indicated, mobile points will be enabled in the different Basic Health Zones where immunization of the rest of the community is planned .

Madrid

Madrid continues its immunization plan this week as planned. Mass vaccination continues in the three large spaces that it has enabled - the WiZink Center and the Wanda Metropolitano for people from 60 to 65 years old and the Nurse Isabel Zendal emergency center for both mutualists and the general population from 60 to 65 -; in health centers for those over 75 years of age, and in the Gregorio Marañón, La Paz, 12 de Octubre and Fundación Jiménez Díaz hospitals for the general population aged 70 to 74 years.

This Tuesday, in addition, a new summons system has begun that channels a situation that had been occurring for weeks without being within the official planning of the Executive: population that went to their health center to request an appointment. On Friday, the Deputy Minister of Public Health and the covid-19 plan, Antonio Zapatero, reported that as of this April 20, citizens over 75 could call their health center “to set the appointment in the time slot that they come better ”, without waiting to be called. At the same time, primary care professionals will continue to contact citizens who are affected by inoculation by risk group or age group and who have not taken advantage of this new possibility.

The Ministry of Health informs that "the number of places and hours will be based on the patients already mentioned and the availability of vaccines" in each health center.

And he explains that "the devices that have ended with that age group have begun to immunize those under 75": "It should be noted that the rate of vaccination of the centers varies depending on the number of older population assigned to them and according to the geographical area ”.

Murcia

Murcia has administered more than 345,000 doses: 241,000 have at least one dose set and more than 104,000 have completed the immunization schedule.

The coverage of those over 80 is close to 99% with one dose and is 71% with the full regimen.

In people between 70 and 79 years old, 40% have a dose set.

Navarre

Navarra has administered more than 193,000 doses, which means 90% of the vaccines received.

There are more than 137,600 people with an inoculated dose and 55,800 with the complete vaccination schedule.

The coverage with a dose among those older than 80 exceeds 98% and is 48.7% in people aged 70 to 79 years.

In the 60 to 69 group, it is 36%.

The Navarrese Government plans to finish vaccinating with the two doses to those over 80 at the end of the month and the group from 70 to 79, at the end of May.

The community is vaccinating people with high-risk conditions in hospitals.

For the rest, there are four mass vaccination points, in addition to other alternative spaces and health centers.

Basque Country

8.2% of the Basque population (174,000 people) are already immunized after receiving the complete schedule of vaccines. In the Basque Country, a total of 635,986 doses have been administered until April 19, 93.2% of those received. Almost all those over 80 have received the first dose and, of these, half also the second.

The Basque Health Service opened this Monday the vaccination for the population between 74 and 79 years old, but the previous appointment system was collapsed due to the flood of accesses to the web to make the appointment in the three main vaccinometers, installed in the square of San Sebastián bullfighting, the La Casilla sports hall in Bilbao and the Lakua fronton in Vitoria.

The 19,116 appointments available to receive the Pfizer preparation for this age group have been exhausted in a very few hours and hundreds of Basques have not been able to reserve time to get vaccinated.

All the public health professionals have already received the first puncture, as well as the Ertzaintza agents and non-university professors under 55 years of age who were administered the AstraZeneca preparation.

Ceuta

More than 21% of Ceuta have at least one dose of the injected vaccine.

The autonomous city has administered, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, about 18,000 doses, 93.8% of those received.

Coverage with a dose of those over 80 years of age is lower than the Spanish average and is slightly above 86%.

In the 70 to 79 age group, it is, on the other hand, higher than the country's average: 77%.

Melilla

Melilla has administered more than 16,500 doses and has around 12,200 people with a dose administered (4,300 have the complete regimen).

By age groups, the autonomous city has immunized with a dose to 73% of those older than 80 years, 69% of people between 70 and 79 years and more than a third of the group between 60 and 69.


With information from

Sonia Vizoso, Juan Navarro, Mikel Ormazábal, Eva Saiz, Lucía Bohórquez, Isabel Valdés, Guillermo Vega and María Fabra.

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2021-04-21

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