The flu vaccination campaign officially began yesterday October 28 in the Region of Murcia in order to immunize people at higher risk of complications if they have it and those who can transmit the disease to others who have a high risk of complications, according to sources from the Department of Health.
This year the Ministry of Health has set itself the objective of achieving a vaccination coverage of 65 percent in people over 64 years of age and 40 percent in health personnel.
The total cost of this Anti-Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Campaign has been 1,149,000 euros, 211,000 more than the previous one.
It is estimated that during the last season a total of 20,356 cases of influenza were recorded in the Region, which meant a 50 percent decrease from the 40,632 cases of the previous one.
For the flu campaign, the Autonomous Community has enabled 261 vaccination points and acquired 240,000 doses of influenza vaccine.
The purpose is to protect the especially vulnerable population, such as people 60 years of age or older, pregnant and chronically ill or with previous pathologies.
In addition, this year the campaign will pay special attention to health professionals and teachers, because of its greater risk of contagion and potential transmission to high-risk people.
As a novelty, the vaccination program includes high-risk groups for premature children (born before 32 weeks gestation) with ages between 6 months and 2 years.
Vaccination is also recommended among workers in essential services such as firefighters and security forces, as well as those exposed directly to contact with birds or pigs, in order to reduce the chance of a co-infection of human and avian viruses.
On the other hand, people over 60 years old who join the flu vaccination should protect themselves against pneumococcus, if they have not done so before, while those over 65 who received pneumococcal in the 2012-2013 season should receive this year a single and last dose of remembrance.
To this end, Health has acquired another 20,000 doses of pneumococcal vaccines, which will be administered coinciding with the flu vaccine to improve pneumococcal vaccination coverage.
Likewise, it is recommended to adopt preventive measures such as frequent hand washing, especially after coughing or sneezing, since the flu is spread from person to person mainly by saliva droplets or secretions emitted by coughing or sneezing.
The symptomatology of influenza is variable and can be confused with respiratory tract infections.
The incubation period is one or two days and the main symptoms are malaise, severe headache, muscle pain, fever and cough.
Among the recruitment activities planned for this year, personalized letters will be sent to the more than 16,000 people who turn 60 years old and SMS to mobiles to people over 60.
In the 2018/2019 season 200,969 people were vaccinated, 32,014 more than the previous season, with an increase of 18.9 percent.
98.46 percent of the vaccinated people belonged to one of the preferred population groups established in the campaign.
Vaccination coverage in people over 64 years old was 53 percent, which represented an increase of 8.5 compared to the previous season.
