The Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, formed by representatives of the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities, has approved the inclusion in the calendar of childhood vaccination of the vaccine against meningococci A, C, W and Y at 12 years, instead of the monovalent vaccine against meningococcus C.
The inclusion of the tetravalent vaccine will be carried out gradually, so that it is included in all vaccination schedules throughout 2020.
In this way it seems that public health begins to adapt to changes in the patterns of infection in Spain, a measure that has already been advanced by the Junta de Andalucía, although not all, since the one that protects against meningococcus B, known as Bexsero, remains unfinished, despite the recommendations of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP).
In Babies and moreMeningitis: types, forms of infection and all vaccines to prevent diseaseModification in the official vaccination calendar
With the modification announced by Health, the vaccination calendar is as follows: vaccine against meningococcus C one year after birth and against the four serogroups (A, C, W and Y) at 12 years.
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In Babies and more, they recommend vaccinating adolescents against meningococcal meningitis The National Health System justifies this measure after verifying an increase in cases of invasive meningococcal disease in recent epidemiological seasons, mainly due to serogroups W, Y and C. According to data from the epidemiological record of the Carlos III Health Institute, this year 180 cases of meningitis have been reported in Spain, until March 2.
In Babies and more Vaccine calendar 2019: these are the noveltiesThis tetravalent is already being administered in Melilla since 20017 and since the beginning of 2019 in Castilla y León (at 12 months of age and at 12 years) and it is announced that it will begin to be financed shortly in the Canary Islands and Andalusia (before the end of the year) , although only for teenagers.
In addition, the Public Health Commission indicates that to increase protection a rescue vaccination will be done in adolescents and young adults in all autonomous communities, for two-three years, to cover the population until 18 years of age.
What happens to meningococcus B?
Its sale has been liberalized in pharmacies and the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) recommends immunization against this type of meningitis, and a large number of parents are choosing to put it on their children.
But despite everything, Health continues to reject its funding by claiming that "It shows a short duration of protection after vaccination, lack of protection in the unvaccinated population, lack of effectiveness data and high reactogenicity when administered together with calendar vaccines in the childhood stage."
In Babies and more Our experience with the Bexsero vaccine: purchase, reaction after the puncture and other adviceAt the moment only Castilla y León and Canarias, seem to be willing to finance the vaccine, with high costs (three doses of 106 euros each) and that not all families can afford.
We hope that the rest of the autonomous communities, as Andalusia has already announced, will end up financing it as soon as possible. Why risk our children suffering from the serious effects of meningitis when vaccines exist to protect them from all their serotypes?
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