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COVID-19 VACCINES

Spain approves Covid-19 booster shots for all people over 18

Spain’s Health Ministry on Thursday approved the Covid-19 booster shot for people aged 39 to 18 in the country, meaning that all adults in Spain are now eligible for a reinforcement dose. 

people under 40 can get a Covid-19 booster in Spain. Photo: Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP
People in their twenties and thirties can now get a Covid-19 booster in Spain. Photo: Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP

Spain’s Public Health Commission on Thursday morning gave the Health Ministry the go-ahead to approve Covid-19 booster doses for all over 18s in Spain, adding people in their thirties and their twenties to the public healthcare’s vaccination strategy. 

The move represents a big step for vaccination plans in the country, where so far around 34 percent of the population have had a booster, a lower rate than in other European countries such as Malta, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. 

Around 12 million people between the ages of 18 and 39 in Spain will now be able to get their reinforcement dose.

The previous update to the booster strategy was introduced on December 16th 2021 when two other age groups – over-50s and over-40s – were added at the same time to Spain’s booster plans. 

Several regions which had vaccinated the majority of their over-40s had recently been calling for the national government to approve the booster dose for people in the 30 to 39 age group. 

It is unclear yet whether the booster campaign for under 40s will follow a staggered approach – from oldest to youngest, one year at a time – as it has mainly been up to now, although regional authorities have the powers to adapt their strategy as they see fit.

Back in November, the European Commission requested that all Member States make Covid boosters available to all adults while prioritising over-40s, but Spain has waited until now to offer reinforcement doses to all over-18s.

The announcement comes as Spain’s infection rate is at its highest rate ever, with more than 3 in 100 people in the country having been infected with Covid-19 over the past two weeks.

So far, Pfizer and Moderna are the approved booster vaccines since the booster campaign started with people over 70 last October 2021.

People of all ages who were vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine (Janssen) could already receive their booster dose and under-40s with AstraZeneca have to wait three months from their second dose.

People who received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines initially have to wait six months before getting their booster dose.

Spain’s Health Ministry also decided in early January that people aged under 65 who have been infected with Covid-19 will have to wait at least four weeks to receive their booster doses, something some health experts have said makes no sense as a person’s natural immunity is at top strength soon after recovering from the virus.

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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.

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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