The updating of calendar pediatric vaccines would have only begun to recover last year, but it is still considered that protection in the child population remains below the target necessary following the sharp fall in the applications of schemes and reinforcements with the Covid-19 pandemic. Official coverage data for last year is still awaited.
“There are several vaccines that are below 90% coverage, which is still considered suboptimal. The problems are in all the cities of the country,” he said. Elizabeth Bogdanowiczmember of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the Argentine Society of Pediatrics (SAP).
As he gave as an example, when reviewing by age, In the vaccines that boys have to have at 2 years old – such as the triple viral ( once morest measles, rubella and mumps) and the anti-poliomyelitis – the coverage is “well below” the recommended minimum vaccination for that group. The follow-up campaign with an extra dose of both vaccines for children between 1 and 4 years of age inclusive –those born between November 1, 2017 and September 30, 2021– started slowly at the end of last year, it was necessary to lower the target to be initially set from 95% to 90% and extend it beyond last November 13, during this summer.
There are 580,000 minors who, between 2018 and 2021, had not received the first dose or have yet to complete the initial scheme once morest polio and 713,000 without the first dose of the triple viral that, by calendar, is applied to the year of life from the edition follow-up campaign preview.
At once, In 2020, no vaccine on the calendar exceeded 80% of application in the group that should receive them by age, with decreases recorded by the SAP-Unicef Observatory for Children and Adolescents in his first report on immunizations. That year, as LA NACION published, it closed with 69% coverage with the mandatory schemes for babies, children and adolescents, below 2019 and far from the internationally recommended goal of 90-95%.
The following year, according to a report from the National Ministry of Health, the applications by age ranged coverage, on average, between 70% and 87%.. In the SAP and Unicef they await the data for 2022. Meanwhile, regarding the start of school, Pediatricians came out to remember the need for parents or adults in charge to include up-to-date vaccinations among the purchase of supplies and aprons of the boys before classes start.
In those that must be applied in the first degree -second doses of the triple viral and chickenpox, first reinforcement of the anti-poliomyelitis and second reinforcement of the triple bacterial ( once morest diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough)-, Bogdanowicz commented that the impact of the delay is a little less. “The school entry serves to review the calendar and make up the recovery,” he said.
In the largest, meanwhile, he reviewed that the coverage “is bad” at 11 years of age for the scheme once morest human papillomavirus (HPV), the reinforcement with the triple acellular bacterial and the single antimeningococcal dose, which is indicated in a complementary way to reduce the transmission of the bacterium that causes meningitis (meningococcus) to younger siblings, on all 2 years.
“Since 2022 was a year with greater normality in mobility, the coverage of schools and health centers must tend to increase compared to previous years. Vaccines in 2-year-old boys should not have been postponed in 2020 despite the pandemic. In 2021, there was some improvement and we await the coverage data from last year to define how the trend continued,” said Bogdanowicz.
For Miriam Calvarywhich is also a member of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the SAP, “complete vaccination is a fundamental tool to achieve robust immunity capable of preventing potentially very serious infections in children and adolescents, and it is an essential health strategy to avoid the impact of vaccine-preventable diseases in the community.
Vaccines in the national calendar, which can be consulted hereare considered mandatory and they are applied in the public system vaccination centers, health centers and hospitals throughout the territory, as he recalled Gabriela Tapponniersecretary of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the SAP.
The entity has just launched the “Back to school: vaccinate me on time” campaign to promote before March, through a series of questions and answers, the consultation with the pediatrician and the control of the vaccination certificate so that the children start classes with up-to-date vaccines. From SAP they recalled that the national and provincial education ministers agreed last year that schools and colleges will be more demanding this year with the presentation of vaccination certificates.
“The school has to be a health effector once moreBogdanowicz said. Years ago, vaccination cards were reviewed and vaccination was even completed to improve coverage. Today, this is more difficult to achieve because There are parents who do not authorize the application. “Although schools have to control that vaccination is up to date, this is not intended to prevent a child from going to class until the missing application is completed, but it does serve to ask the family to consult the pediatrician and vaccinate the boy,” he added. This step is the one that would be missing and we hope that this year it will take place”.
Another objective of the SAP is to have a space this year in public and private schools for teachers to receive basic concepts regarding vaccination calendar to help them when talking to parents or caring adults. “The school has a central participation in health education”, defined the pediatrician.
The SAP issued recommendations to recover the schemes defined in the calendar
● In no case should vaccination schemes be restarted
● Vaccines corresponding to age will be administered simultaneously in different anatomical sites
● There is no maximum limit of applications to be managed at the same time. The Covid-19 vaccine can be applied together with other vaccines on the calendar
● Vaccines received simultaneously do not interfere with each other in terms of immunogenicity and efficacy
● The intervals between doses must be respected to ensure an adequate immune response. If these intervals are shortened, the immune response may not be satisfactory.
