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COVID-19 VACCINES

Under 65s in Spain who caught Covid-19 need to wait a month before booster

Those aged under 65 who have been infected with Covid-19 will now have to wait at least four weeks to receive their booster doses, Spain’s Health Ministry announced.

Published: 6 January 2022 11:02 CET
Covid-19 booster vaccines
Booster vaccines in Spain. Photo: Frederic J. BROWN / AFP

The new rule is part of the update of the Vaccine Strategy against Covid-19 released by Spain’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday. 

“People for whom a booster dose is recommended who have had symptomatic or asymptomatic Covid-19 infections after the full primary vaccination regimen, will be administered a booster dose with mRNA at least four weeks after a diagnosis of the infection,” said the document shared by Spain’s Health Ministry.

Currently, booster doses have been approved for those over the age of 40.

Those who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines will be eligible to get their booster dose six months after they received their second jab, while those who received AstraZeneca or the single dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) will be able to get their booster after only three months.

According to the latest data, 83 percent of the population who are eligible to receive their booster have already had it.

READ ALSO: Spain now has the highest Covid infection rate in Europe

The update to the Vaccine Strategy document also details some changes regarding vaccination in minors. This includes children from ages 5 to 11 who are given the Pfizer childhood vaccine, the only one authorised for this age group.

This will now be given in two injections separated by eight weeks. In the event that a child reaches twelve years of age before receiving the second dose, the adult dose will be used, only after the two-month interval has passed.

The document also states that those children who have had Covid-19 will be given a single dose one month after diagnosis or date of the onset of symptoms.

If they are infected with the virus between the two doses, they will receive their second dose after four weeks have elapsed, also maintaining the eight-week interval.

These changes come as Spain is currently battling its sixth wave of Covid.

Over the Christmas season, Spain has seen a steep rise in cases. On Wednesday Spain recorded the highest cumulative incidence rate in Europe at 2,433 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, surpassing the United Kingdom (2,326), France (1,693), Switzerland (1,550) and Portugal (1,208).

Ninety percent of the population of Spain has already received two Covid-19 doses and more than a million children between 5 and 11 years old have received at least their first dose.

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COVID-19 VACCINES

Spain starts fourth Covid vaccine rollout for over-80s

Spanish health authorities started offering a second Covid-19 booster dose to people over 80 and those in care homes on Monday September 26th, a campaign which also includes the flu vaccine for those who wish to have it.

Published: 9 September 2022 10:35 CEST
Updated: 26 September 2022 16:16 CEST
Spain starts fourth Covid vaccine rollout for over-80s

In early September, Spain’s Public Health Commission marked September 26th 2022 in the calendar as the start date for their fourth vaccine rollout for over-80s and care home residents in Spain. 

As planned, the campaign has started in all Spanish regions on that date, except for in Andalusia, where it will begin on October 3rd.

The vaccines to be used will the new inoculations developed by Moderna and Pfizer against the Omicron BA.1 sub-variant, serums approved by the European Medicines Agency on September 1st. 

“(They) can extend protection against different variants and are therefore expected to help maintain optimal protection” against COVID-19 as the virus evolves, the EMA said.

The inoculations “target the Omicron BA.1 sub-variant in addition to the original strain” of the coronavirus, the Amsterdam-based agency added in a statement.

Around ten million of these doses have been delivered to Spain in the past weeks, a sufficient amount to inoculate the 2.8 million people in the country who are above the age of 80.

The plan is to offer a second booster dose to the rest of the population, moving progressively down from oldest to youngest, with over-60s next in line. 

People aged 80 or older as well as those in care homes who have had Covid-19 since their last vaccination against the coronavirus are advised to wait until three months after their infection before getting a second booster dose.

It’s taken several months for the Spanish government to decide when to offer additional booster doses to its geriatric population, as the Health Ministry confirmed there would be a second Covid-19 booster for them on June 9th and the decision had been in the pipeline since April, but they argued that “the most appropriate moment must be established according to the epidemiological situation”.

Until now, the fourth dose has only been made available to around 120,000 people in Spain classified as vulnerable, including people with cancer, HIV patients, those who have had a transplant or are receiving dialysis.

Spain’s Health Ministry wanted all of the country’s 17 regions to kick off their flu vaccination campaign on the same day – September 26th – but not all autonomous communities have received the necessary flu vaccine doses for this double inoculation campaign to go ahead on time.

This means that regional authorities across the country will begin their joint flu and Covid vaccination campaigns on different dates in late September or throughout the month of October. 

In Andalusia the Covid-flu vaccination campaign starts on October 3rd, in Aragón and Navarre on October 10th, in the Balearics on October 13th, in Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Murcia and Castilla y León all on September 26th, whereas in the remaining regions the date for the double vaccination campaign is not yet known.

Around 54 percent of Spain’s population has had a Covid-19 booster dose (less potent than the initial two-dose vaccination), but the rates are lower among younger people.

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