Tomorrow, Monday, September 25, the Ministry of Health begins protection against bronchiolitis for newborns. The region thus becomes one of the few autonomous communities to operate this fortification in September.
Minors will be able to receive the antibody that protects them against bronchiolitis in the hospital at the time of their birth in all public and private maternity hospitals, starting tomorrow. Throughout this week, parents of children born on or after April 1 of this year have also been notified by phone and SMS to go to their health center to administer this protection.
On the other hand, children aged three to four years in the region will receive the influenza vaccine this year in their schools, to facilitate families’ access to immunization. It will start on Wednesday, September 27, and it is estimated that there will be about 30,000 students.
“Facilitation of administration improves access to vaccines and reduces population hesitancy,” explained the Minister of Health, Juan José Pedrino, “that is why we took this into account, given that parents of children aged three to four years are ‘mostly’ workers who may find Difficulty in going to a health center or regular vaccination center, the option of administering the vaccine in schools is optimal.
These children (first and second years of early childhood education) will be vaccinated using the nasal vaccine, which is more convenient, as puncture is avoided. To this end, the Vaccine Service has written to parents to inform them and record their consent.
Last year, school children from two to four years old were vaccinated against influenza at their health centers. In the 2022/2023 campaign, the Region of Murcia was the only autonomous community to vaccinate minors of this age with the nasal vaccine.
Likewise, the Murcia region was one of the three communities, along with Galicia and Andalusia, included in the 2022/2023 influenza vaccination campaign for healthy minors aged six to 59 months, as recommended by the World Health Organization and has been implemented in Various countries around us for years. The rest of the communities will offer influenza vaccination in the 2023/2024 campaign.
Due to the characteristics of this vaccine, which is very safe, has almost no harmful effects and is very easy to use, it has been considered to carry out influenza vaccination in the school environment, which is a common practice in many countries that have this vaccine, such as in the Kingdom. United..
The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, has been conducting a vaccination campaign in educational centers in the region for decades.
The school vaccination program in the Murcia region has been recognized by the European Health and Digital Agency (HaDEA) as one of the most promising practices in the project “Overcoming Vaccination Barriers”.
The European Union presented this recognition at a meeting organized at the Ministry of Health, taking advantage of the visit of thirty technicians from different countries to the region to learn about the implementation of the programme.
This recognition highlights the efforts made by the Directorate General of Public Health, the Murcian Health Service and schools to enhance access to vaccination.
Finally, the start of the Covid vaccination campaign depends on the arrival of doses from the Ministry of Health and will begin with those over 80 years of age and priority groups (health care workers, pregnant women, people with weak immunity).
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