Spain launches flu vaccination campaign for children aged six to 59 months

The Andalusian Autonomous Government wants to vaccinate babies and toddlers against influenza in preschools, schools and health centres from September, 30th 2024. Children over the age of two will receive an intranasal vaccine, younger children an intramuscular vaccine. Health Minister Rocío Hernández claims that children are the first to be infected with flu and are the most likely to transmit it.

Source: Transition News. 27. Sept 2024

The vaccination industry is piling on the pressure. It wants to launch new products on the market and earn even more money. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved FluMist, a “nasal flu vaccine” from AstraZeneca, which parents can now administer at home to their children aged two and older.

At the same time, critics had informed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had withdrawn this 2016 vaccine due to ineffectiveness and that it had been linked to reports of serious side effects and deaths in children according to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) (we reported). It is the first vaccine that does not have to be administered by a doctor.

In Spain, the Andalusian health authority now wants to administer a “nasal flu vaccine” to babies and toddlers aged six to 59 months from 30 September 2024. The Regional Minister for Health and Consumer Protection, Rocío Hernández, announced that “Andalusian children in the first and second year of pre-school will receive the flu vaccine in their schools if their families so wish”. The name of the vaccine was not disclosed.

The aim of this campaign is to exceed last year’s vaccination rate of 45.8 per cent among children, as “children are the first to catch the flu and the ones who transmit it most frequently”, Hernández is quoted as saying by the media. Furthermore, this vaccine “not only protects children, for whom the flu can be a serious illness and lead to a high number of visits to the doctor and hospital admissions, but also older people who spend many hours with them”, according to the health commissioner.

The vaccination campaign will be carried out in the first and second grades of all public, subsidised and private schools in Andalusia. Parents must complete a declaration of consent, which they will receive via the IPASEN platform. You can also have your children vaccinated at the health centres. All citizens, but especially children between the ages of six and 35 months, can receive the vaccination there. Children under the age of two are given an intramuscular vaccine, while children over the age of two receive the intranasal vaccine.

Hernández explained that the campaign has been coordinated with the Department of Educational Development and Vocational Training and said that the 411 school nurses will be responsible for coordinating the vaccination of these children in their schools, without the need to make an appointment.

The vaccination-enthusiastic politician also announced that “experience in other countries has shown that “school immunisation is an effective strategy” and that “vaccination at school makes it easier for parents to vaccinate their children”.

The health authority also announced that intramuscular influenza vaccination for children aged six to 59 months (four years and eleven months) has been included in the 2022 to 2023 campaign. In the last campaign, 132,983 children were vaccinated, which corresponds to a vaccination coverage rate of 45.8 per cent for children aged six to 59 months. Specifically, 80,699 children aged two, three and four years were vaccinated (vaccination coverage rate: 41.5 per cent).

“The goal for the 2024-25 campaign is to achieve a higher vaccination coverage rate than last year and to exceed the percentage of vaccination coverage in the two to four age group. To this end, 135,000 doses of the intranasal vaccine have been purchased,” summarised Hernández.

Transition News commentary:

Although the media – and also Health Minister Rocío Hernández –are concealing the names of the vaccines to be administered to babies and toddlers in their vaccination adverts, the intranasal preparation for children over two years of age is a live attenuated vaccine called Fluenz from AstraZeneca, the company responsible for FluMist.

It is striking that although the institution’s vaccination information page links to the technical data sheet for Fluenz, the page does not open and displays an error message.

Babies and infants between six and 23 months receive intramuscular Vaxigrip Tetra from Sanofi Pasteur. The surprise: this technical data sheet is easily accessible. We asked the Andalusian Ministry of Health why this is the case.

Incidentally, the authority promises that the Sanofi preparation not only protects babies from six months of age against influenza, it also states that the vaccine, when administered during pregnancy, “not only protects the pregnant woman, but also her baby from birth to six months of age through the transmission of protection”. It also states that “none of the components of the vaccine can cause influenza”. Breastfeeding is also no problem at all.

We have also asked the Andalusian authorities why Health Minister Rocío Hernández claims that children are the first to catch the flu and the ones who transmit it the most – especially to their beloved grandparents. As soon as we receive an answer, we will inform you. Scaremongering is still being used successfully in Spain four and a half years after Corona.

Source:

Transition News: “FluMist” is the first flu vaccine for self-administration at home on the market – 25 September 2024

Junta de Andalucía: Los niños andaluces podrán vacunarse contra la gripe en el colegio desde el 30 de septiembre – 20 September 2024