According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health dated Friday, April 9, 6.5% of the Spanish population has received the complete schedule of the coronavirus vaccine.
This means that 3,072,109 people are already immunized against SARS-CoV-2 thanks to one of the three vaccines that are being administered in the country ( Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca ), all of them double-dosed.
It is expected that with the arrival of the Janssen vaccine, the only single dose endorsed so far by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the vaccination rhythm accelerates considerably and the expected goal of 70% of the immunised population will be reached by the end of the summer.
To carry out the vaccination, the Ministry of Health has prepared a document called ‘Vaccination strategy against Covid-19 in Spain’ that it has updated up to five times. It specifies which groups are a priority when receiving doses of the drug, due to their weakness against the virus, and with which vaccine each group should be immunized.
Pfizer and Moderna, the messenger RNA vaccines
The elderly have been the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic. Nursing homes across the country had to mourn a very high number of losses due to the fact that the elderly are the most serious when they contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the coronavirus disease. This was the main reason why Health decided that, in addition to health workers, highly exposed to the virus by their profession, the people who would receive the Covid-19 vaccine as a priority would be the elderly, institutionalised and non-institutionalised.
Thus, a descending age group order is followed. Those over 80 years of age have priority when receiving the vaccine, followed by people between 79 and 70 years, who precede those whose age is between 69 and 60 years, and so on. And what vaccines do these people receive?
Initially, it was decided that the vaccines that will be used to immunise the older population would be those that use the novel messenger RNA technology, that is, those developed by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, since they are highly effective in population groups. However, according to the latest health statements, in the coming weeks only people between 60 and 69 years of age will receive the Anglo-Swedish AstraZenica vaccine, as they belong to the population group with the least risk of side effects.
Vaccination in people with very high-risk conditions
The fifth update of the Health vaccination plan included a new priority group to receive the vaccine: people with very high-risk conditions. Within this group are people who, due to their health conditions, tend to be at greater risk of serious illness and death from a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Thus, people with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, solid organ transplantation or on the waiting list for one, undergoing renal replacement therapy, oncohematological disease, cancer, some type of primary immunodeficiency or HIV, as well as those 40 years or older with Down Syndrome, they will also be immunised as soon as possible. These people will receive the vaccines prescribed for their age. However, as explained in the document prepared by Health: “any of the authorized vaccines will be used, but preferably mRNA vaccines, in order to achieve complete immunity in a shorter period of time.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine
The vaccine developed by the Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and researchers from the University of Oxford is undoubtedly the most controversial vaccine since its approval by the European Medicines Agency.
At first it was ensured that the effectiveness of the vaccine had been proven, but not in people over 55 years of age, which is why many countries, including Spain, chose to immunise the younger population with this vaccine.
Thus, in Spain, essential workers under 55 years of age began to receive this vaccine, that is, health and social health personnel, and active groups with an essential function for society (Security Forces and Bodies, Emergency and Armed Forces, teachers and staff of early childhood, special, primary and secondary education).
However, in early March, several countries detected cases of thrombi in patients who had received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Although the events seemed isolated and have occurred in a very low percentage, much of the European Union, including Spain, decided to temporarily stop vaccination with AstraZeneca until the EMA confirmed the safety of the vaccine, which it did shortly thereafter.
Last Tuesday, April 6, the Italian pharmacologist Marco Cavaleri , confirmed to the Roman newspaper ‘Il Messaggero’ that “there is a link” between the drug AstraZeneca and the very rare adverse cases found in some EU countries, mainly in women under 50 years of age.
In Spain, a total of five cases of thrombosis have been detected among 985,528. Although the figure is very low, Health has decided to stop vaccination with AstraZeneca in people under 60 years of age. From now on, and in view of different studies that confirm the efficacy of this drug in people over 55 years of age, only people who are between 60 and 69 years old will receive the vaccine.
Second dose of AstraZeneca
In Spain, a total of 2,388,397 individuals have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, most of them under 55 years of age. What will happen to these people? Will they be given the second dose?
Three options are currently being considered: not administering the second dose, since the use of a single dose already provides high immunity against the coronavirus, administering the second dose of another vaccine (there are studies that mix the AstraZeneca vaccine with that of Pfizer with promising results), or also administer the second dose of the Astrazeneca vaccine, which is what the EMA recommends.
“The Public Health Commission will shortly communicate the decision on the second dose as the scientific evidence, the EMA evaluations and in communication with other countries of the European Union are updated and expanded,” explained Darias.
Janssen’s vaccine
Last Saturday, April 10, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, confirmed that the first doses of Janssen’s vaccine will arrive in Spain this week. So far, Spain has acquired a total of 17,598,400 doses of this drug but, according to the ministry’s forecasts, it is expected that up to 5.5 million vials will be received between the months of April and June.
As the minister explained, “in principle it will be applied in accordance with the latest update of the vaccination strategy in the same typology as the RNA ones; in other words, we will be converging from 80 years downwards ». However, as can be read in the vaccination strategy, “the Janssen vaccine will not be used in people who, due to a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, only require one dose. There is no contraindication for this, but it will be preferred to use the other vaccines that usually have a two-dose regimen”.