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VACCINE

Murcia regional health chief resigns after jumping queue for vaccine

The top health official in the Spanish region of Murcia resigned on Wednesday after it emerged that he had jumped the queue for the coronavirus vaccine.

Murcia regional health chief resigns after jumping queue for vaccine
Manuel Villegas stepped down from his post as health chief of Murcia region on Wednesday. Photo: Murcia Salud

Manuel Villegas, a cardiologist who worked as a doctor and hospital director before being appointed regional health minister in 2017, stepped down after admitting that he had the jab despite not belonging to any priority group designated for initial inoculations under Phase One of Spain’s vaccination programme.

Local media reports that he had received the first dose of the vaccine ahead of others in the priority group, first emerged on Tuesday prompting calls for him to be fired.

But the health chief intially justified the vaccination by insisting that as a doctor he qualified for the early shot. He said the nature of his job as regional Health Minister involved frequent meetings with other health workers who had a high risk of infection.

“My papers say I’m a doctor, they don’t say I’m a politician,” he told a news conference earlier on Wednesday, adding that some 400 members of his department had already been inoculated.

“It was a decision that I believed in and I continue to stand by it,” he said.

But his remarks sparked even more outrage across the political spectrum and on Wednesday evening, Murcia’s regional premier Fernando Lopez Miras confirmed he had reluctantly accepted Villegas’ resignation.

“Today it is my turn to say goodbye to an admirable man … Villegas has been exemplary and his performance has been impeccable,” he told a news conference.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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