On Monday, September 26, the new vaccination campaign against COVID-19 begins throughout Spain to administer the second booster dose – which will be the fourth dose for many of those who have the complete vaccination schedule – to people aged 80. or more and to all those who are interned in nursing homes and other socio-health centers, as reported by the Ministry of Health. The Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG) also considers that this second booster dose is especially important for those over 80 years of age.
The Public Health Commission has recommended that minors under this age with health problems that pose an added risk if they become infected with the coronavirus, as well as “people who work in health emergency services in contact with patients and staff, also be vaccinated. of residences for the elderly or care for the disabled”, and that the vaccination against COVID be done jointly with that of the flu “provided that both vaccines are available”, indicating that these vaccines can also be administered together with others such as the one destined to combat pneumococcus “depending on feasibility”.
The Minister of Health Carolina Darias has declared that 44 million doses of vaccines will arrive before the end of the year (16 million during this month of September) and that the vaccination of those over 80 years of age and those who live in residences will begin throughout the country on the same day, and that subsequently staff working in health centers and all those who have not completed their vaccination schedule will be vaccinated.
Questions and answers about vaccination against COVID-19
The vaccination status of the population differs for many reasons; Thus, there are people who did not get vaccinated, others who have the complete schedule including the booster dose, others who received only one or two injections because they contracted COVID before the vaccines were created, or they were infected or reinfected before the date they had to be vaccinated again…
In addition, since SARS-CoV-2 triggered the pandemic, the virus has generated new variants and sub-variants, such as delta and omicron, which has also led to the vaccines having to be modified, and there are already new versions of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna adapted to combat both the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron BA.1 subvariant.
Vaccination and its booster doses, the duration of the immunity generated by the vaccines, by the disease itself, or by both –hybrid immunity–, the appearance of new variants of the coronavirus and their immune escape, the successive waves of infections …, have raised many doubts about the advisability of continuing to be vaccinated, when to do it, or in what cases to wait. Below, we answer the most frequently asked questions about vaccination against COVID-19:
When do I have to get vaccinated?
The new vaccination campaign against COVID-19 begins in Spain on September 26 to administer updated booster doses against the omicron variant. The order in which the population will be vaccinated will be similar to that of other campaigns during the pandemic and will begin with those over 80 years of age and people who live in residences and social-health centers, and then the rest of the population will be progressively vaccinated. the population, as reported by the Ministry of Health.
Do I have to get vaccinated again if I have already received two or three doses?
The new doses to be administered have been updated against omicron, which is the dominant variant at the moment. The current bivalent vaccines combine the original SARS-CoV-2 strain with the latest omicron variants (BA.1, or BA.4/BA.5), so you can also apply it after a complete primary vaccination course, since that an extra dose can help us boost the immune response.
If I have never been vaccinated, should I do it now?
The recommendation of health professionals is that we all get vaccinated and it is never too late to do so because the coronavirus continues to circulate, and in the last two years it has been observed that there may be a more important transmission of the virus during the winter season. There are studies that show that the immunity conferred by having passed the infection is not sufficient and that the immune response is broader and more prolonged if we are also vaccinated.
If I have had COVID for the first time, or have been reinfected, recently, should I get vaccinated?
In recent months, many Spaniards have been infected or reinfected, probably by some omicron variant, such as BA.5. Studies have been carried out to determine how long it would be convenient to wait to receive a vaccine after overcoming the infection, and in Spain the Ministry of Health advises that the booster dose be administered at least five months after having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. In fact, some experts have recommended waiting around six months before receiving a booster to give the immune system time to mount a full and powerful response and optimize the effect of the injection. In any case, the characteristics and situation of each person are different and waiting times also depend on these factors.
If I’m young and healthy, do I need another booster dose?
Vaccines have drastically reduced cases of severe COVID, hospitalization and death, but it has been proven that the protection they confer decreases over time, especially after six months. Therefore, it is necessary to receive booster doses that reduce the chances of contagion or the severity of COVID symptoms and, in addition, reduce the transmission of the virus during the winter season.
Will it be necessary to be vaccinated against COVID every year?
It is still unknown how SARS-CoV-2 will behave in the longer term and if the new vaccines, or others that are being developed, will stop the transmission of the virus or make its symptoms very mild. But, as happens with other infectious diseases, such as the flu, or pneumococcal pneumonia, it is also possible that vulnerable groups of the population (elderly, immunosuppressed, patients with certain chronic diseases…) may have to be vaccinated every year.
Can getting vaccinated so often harm the immune system?
There are many vaccines that have a full schedule of more than four doses, and others like the flu vaccine are given to many people every year. Receiving multiple doses of the COVID vaccine is not harmful to our immune systems.
Are the new adapted vaccines better than the original ones?
Studies are still underway to compare the effectiveness of these drugs, but immunologists believe they will at least be similarly effective. As was the case when the booster dose was administered to the population after the appearance of omicron at the end of 2021, this new booster dose will boost the population’s defenses and help reduce the number of serious cases in the coming months.
Which is the best vaccine, the one adapted to BA.1, or the one adapted to BA.4/BA.5?
Immunologists and epidemiologists say that the best vaccine is the one that is available, and although numerous studies will be published in the coming months indicating which is the most effective combination of vaccines or updated doses at the population level, at the individual level it does not matter and it is not expected that significant differences will be appreciated, since any vaccine will boost our immune response to protect us against the wave of autumn and winter.
Will the new vaccines prevent me from getting infected with the coronavirus? How long are they effective?
Unlike other vaccines that prevent us from contracting the disease for which they have been designed, the COVID-19 vaccines available to date do not prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, although they have demonstrated their ability to reduce transmission of the pathogen. However, when new variants appeared, it was observed that this protection decreased and lasted only a few months. In the case of the new adapted vaccines, it is not known how long their ability to limit said transmission will last, but, although they are similar to the previous ones, they can help reduce the number of cases and, in this way, reduce both hospital admissions and care pressure, such as outbreaks in areas with vulnerable people, such as nursing homes.
Is it true that the new adapted vaccines have been tested only on mice? How do I know they are safe?
Vaccines tailored against BA.1 have been tested in clinical trials involving hundreds of people, but data in mice are only available for those designed to target BA.4/BA.5. However, this is normal and is done every year with flu vaccines, and COVID vaccines have already been administered to millions of people, amply proving their safety. The update only involves a few small changes that do not pose a security problem.
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