However, to deal with a possible eighth wave of COVID-19, the fourth dose of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will be available this September.
As confirmed by the Ministry of Health, this coming Monday, September 26the campaign of the second booster doseor fourth dose, in all autonomous communities and cities at the same time.
The arrival of 44 million doses is expected, adapted to the omicron variant since the injections of the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer/Biontech and Moderna have been adapted to the different variants of .
But who will be the first to receive the second booster dose against COVID?
Who has to be vaccinated with the fourth dose of COVID?
“The recommendations of the experts is to start vaccination paying special attention to the most vulnerable, that they will receive this new booster dose to raise their immunity”, explained the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias.
Thus, the fourth dose of the vaccine, which is administered on the same day throughout the country, will begin with the over 80 years and those who live in residences.
Once this population group has been completed, you will continue with the older than 60 yearsthe staff of health centers and those who do not have the complete vaccination schedule.
Until now, and unless the Public Health Commission decides otherwise, the fourth dose against COVID-19 is not indicated for healthy children under 60 years of age.
Hospital admissions for COVID rise: first increase since July
In the midst of the debate on the removal of the mask on public transport, the latest report indicates that hospitalizations have risen for the first time since the beginning of July.
Currently, there are 2,515 hospitalized COVID patients. And in the Intensive Care Units (ICU), there are 159 people admitted.
The decrease in incidence is also slowing down: we have 129 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
In this sense, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has already warned that there is no “scientific evidence” to support the need to administer this new booster dose to the general population. However, “after reviewing the data on the increased risk of severe coronavirus in the elderly”, its use is supported in the most vulnerable people.
The first tests that detect COVID and flu arrive
The combined self-diagnosis tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 and the influenza A and B virus are already being marketed in Spanish pharmacies.
As with conventional antigen tests, they come in two formats: both nasal and saliva. And with a maximum price of €2.94 per unit.
The sample collection procedure is exactly the same as in the self-diagnostic tests for COVID-19. But, in this case, the interpretation of the results is different, since there are three lines: one for influenza A, another for influenza B and a third for the coronavirus.
How are the new vaccines?
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved the first vaccines of modern and Pfizer adapted to omicron and its multiple variants: Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1 and Spikevax Bivalent Original/Omicron BA.1.
The new bivalent vaccines “may expand the protection against different variants and therefore are expected to help maintain optimal protection.”
The side effects of the ‘puncture’ “are mild and short-lived.” Its use is only recommended “in people over 12 years of age who have received at least one primary course of vaccination against COVID”.
They are tailored “to better match circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 and are expected to provide broader protection against different variants.”
With this approval:
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“The armamentarium of vaccines available to protect people against COVID-19 is further expanding as the pandemic continues, with new waves of infections anticipated in the fall and winter season.”
And although “it is not possible to predict how the virus will evolve in the future and which variants will circulate this winter”, the new bivalent vaccines are the most effective and safe tool against the coronavirus.
Do I have to get vaccinated to go abroad?
Passengers arriving in Spain by air are no longer required to present the COVID passport and fill out the health control form, through the application Spain Travel Health.
But this normalization of international mobility does not apply in other countries, where it is still necessary to have the complete vaccination schedule (two doses) at least two weeks before departure:
- USA. You only need to prove that you are fully vaccinated.
- China. It remains one of the most restrictive countries. The ‘COVID zero’ policy translates into a mandatory COVID passport, PCR tests (2 negative tests), quarantine on arrival (7 days in accommodation approved by the Government, and an additional three -at the tourist’s expense- in their own residence or accommodation) and certificate of health declaration.
- Japan. It is not necessary to present a negative PCR, but it is necessary to have a vaccination passport that reflects that 3 doses of one of the recognized vaccines have been received by this country (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen). All are administered, or have been administered, at some point in Spain.
So, if you intend to travel to any of these three countries, you must have the full regimen (in Japan with the booster dose) as an essential requirement.
Flu: Will it be more virulent? Do I have to get vaccinated?
The data from Australia, which serve as a model for what the season will be like in Europe, have shown us this year an “anomalous” epidemic wave.
According to experts, it has been the worst in the last five years. And, above all, with a special incidence in children from 5 to 9 years old.
“It is very likely that we will have to face the same situation in Spain,” says the virologist Stanislaus Nistal to this portal. And so:
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“The numbers of infections in Australia should serve to reinforce the vaccination campaign with the aim of anticipating the flu virus and thus protecting the most vulnerable people.”
These figures may have an explanation: the few cases of flu that have been recorded in the two…