Know and understand the latest changes in the children's calendar of vaccines in Canary Islands
We recently told you that Canary Islandswould include the Bexsero, among other new vaccines, in the Children's Vaccine Calendar. Awaiting these measures to become official, we review the latest changes in our immunization schedule.
El July 1, 2018, that is, exactly one year ago, they began to apply the last official changes made to Children's Vaccine Calendar in the Autonomous Community of Canary IslandsDo you know which vaccines disappeared and which were included at that time? We tell you:
- The indication of vaccination against HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) disappeared at 14 years of age (remaining that of the 12 years).
- The Tetra-Vírica vaccine, that is to say, the infantile vaccine against Measles, Rubella, Parotiditis and Varicella, began to be applied to children of 3 years.
Furthermore, February of this year (2019), we could know a good news: Canary Islands would have the most advanced Vaccine Calendar in Spain why? Due to the incorporation of new vaccines, such as MenB, MenACWY and the VPH9 (some of them, controversial measures).
These latest changes are expected to be launched soon. Meanwhile, we tell you more details about the new additions:
- Meningococcal Tetravalent Conjugate (MenACWY)
- Meningococcus B (MenB - Bexsero)
- HPV (Gardasil 9)
1- Tetravalent Conjugate Meningococcal (MenACWY)
The tetravalent conjugated vaccine against meningococcus is introduced, which will benefit some 18.000 boys and girls of 12 years of age.
This vaccine protects against serotypes A, C, W, Y (replacing the meningococcal vaccine C that until then was administered to children of 12 years residing in the archipelago) and offers greater protection to the Canarian pre-adolescents.
2- Meningococcus B (MenB-Bexsero)
Once this measure is made official, 17.000 Canarian children of less than a year of life can now be vaccinated against Meningococcus B, thanks to the incorporation in the Vacunal Infantile Calendar in Canary Islands of the MenB vaccine (known commercially as Bexsero).
This vaccine will be administered in a guideline of 2 dose + 1, that is, that the first two doses will be administered during the first year of life and the third dose of memory will be administered during the second year of the child's life.
Bexsero, a controversial inclusion vaccine
The Bexsero, which was not previously included in the Children's Vaccine Calendar in Canary Islands, still not funded in most of the CCAA of Spain; It is only financed in Castilla y León (since June 1) and Andalusia and Melilla have announced their financing, without this measure being in force; the same happens in Canary Islands.
This measure taken by a few Autonomous Communities has generated much controversy, with people and institutions in favor and others against.
On the one hand, the measure has been well received by many Canarians; and until then, parents who could afford it, bought this vaccine in particular at high prices and after long waiting lists in pharmacies.
On the other hand, the controversy was immediate, since not everyone has agreed with this decision. Highlighted in the media, the position of the Minister of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare, María Luisa Carcedo, who crossed out the measure of "politics"; In addition, some experts called it "unnecessary".
For its part, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) applauded this measure and encouraged other Autonomous Communities to follow in the footsteps of Canary Islandsand Castilla y León, based on the existence of scientific evidence that endorse the benefits of this decision, since it can prevent meningococcal disease in infants.
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3- HPV, re-powered
Another of the improvements of the Vacunal Infant Calendar in Canary Islands was given by the inclusion of a new vaccine against nine genotypes of HPV (Human papilloma virus).
In this way, once this measure is in force, the 8.500 girls living in Canary Islands susceptible to vaccination (of 12 years of age), will receive this vaccine nonavalent, more powerful than the current one. It is known as "HPV: Gardasil 9"
Do you know what is based on these changes in the Children's Vaccine Calendar?
The first thing you should know is that the General Directorate of Public Health it is the entity that determines which diseases are subject to the systematic application of vaccines; To do this, they take into account factors such as epidemiological circumstances and available resources.
On the official website of Canary IslandsHealth Service we can read: "The appearance of new vaccines against different diseases, together with other increasingly immunogenic and less reactogenic, and the modification in the epidemiological behavior of some diseases against which vaccines are currently applied, determine the need to change the Vaccination Calendar current in our Autonomous Community"