Who should be vaccinated against Covid-19?

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The pools on when we will have the long-awaited vaccine are still open and the most recent forecast has been offered to us by Pedro Sánchez himself, last Thursday.

The President of the Government, in a ceremony held in Valencia, has predicted

for the implementation of the campaigns with the new vaccines.

But while this is happening, and regardless of its effectiveness (that's another melon since it is currently targeting 50-60% in the first vaccines), one wonders who will be the first recipients.

In the United States, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a committee within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), met in October and established four priority groups for vaccination against the Covid-19.

All this in the case (quite likely) that the supply is limited.

These four groups are made up of healthcare personnel, essential workers, people at high risk of severe Covid-19 illness from underlying medical conditions, and seniors (65 years or older).

PRIORITY VACCINATION GROUPS

1. Health personnel

Health workers continue to be on the front lines of the fight in the pandemic.

For the CDC there is no doubt that, due to its high exposure to people infected with the Covid-19 virus to those who provide critical care, it is a group at high risk of becoming ill.

It is true that we cannot let "those who take care of us" get sick, but it is important to note that to the aforementioned risk of health personnel becoming infected, another not inconsiderable must be added, and that is that these professionals end up transmitting the virus to other vulnerable patients with those who come into daily contact.

Early access to the vaccine will be crucial for health workers to ensure their essential work.

2. Essential service workers

As with the healthcare professional community, the CDC indicates that many essential services workers are at increased risk of contracting Covid-19.

Therefore and in the same way, guaranteeing early access to vaccines will be essential, not only to protect them, but also to maintain essential services.

Within this group are, among others, civil protection personnel, the municipal police, the fire department or the Samur.

For other purposes, people who work in educational centers have recently been considered essential workers by not having to quarantine if they have a negative PCR.

3. People with underlying medical conditions

Regardless of their age, people with some previous pathologies have a greater risk of contracting the coronavirus in a serious way.

What exactly do you mean by "seriously"?

It means that, if they become infected, people in this group are more likely to end up requiring hospitalization, intensive care, a ventilator to help them breathe and even die from the infection.

It is essential that this population group has early access to vaccines since it is affected in a "disproportionate" way by the coronavirus.

4. Older people

As with other infectious diseases, in adults the risk of serious illness from Covid-19 increases with age.

It is a group to be protected especially and with the greatest speed once we have the vaccine.

Outbreak vaccination

The CSIC virologist Margarita del Val proposed several weeks ago different vaccination scenarios for the moment in which we have the desired vaccine.

To the risk groups indicated by the CDC and which we have already discussed, the researcher adds the possibility of vaccinating in parallel around outbreaks, to close contacts.

In his opinion, this would help curb uncontrolled outbreaks.

However, and following her usual line, the virologist appeals to prudence when defining the risk groups since clinical trials are necessary once we have the vaccine in order to establish them with greater precision.

Herd immunity: how much is left?

There are those who ask when we will get herd immunity each day, like the anxious child in a car who asks when he will reach his destination.

And it is that herd or herd immunity is the letter to the Magi.

Obtaining indirect protection for non-immune individuals due to the fact that there are already a large number of people with immunity due to having developed antibodies after a previous infection, is one of the great wishes of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, we are still very far from the 60-70% of the population with antibodies that epidemiologists consider necessary to be able to reach it.

This percentage is even 90% in highly transmitted viruses such as measles.

On the other hand, allowing the free spread of the virus until these results are achieved may be risky due to the potential collapse of the health system, as has been observed in other countries that decided to experiment with this possibility.

If we seek the opinion of the health authorities, WHO has described the possibility of the virus spreading naturally as a "scientifically and ethically problematic" strategy.

In Spain, Fernando Simón explained last Thursday at a press conference that the percentage of the Spanish population that has been in contact with the virus has been able to go from 5 percent (first data of the seroprevalence study of May) to 8, 9 or even 10 percent, but "not much more."

His statements have been resounding: "Not by far, not by far, we will be in an immunity close to that of the group.

Meanwhile, what do we do?

Without vaccines and without herd immunity in the short term, we have no choice but to assume our key role in the prevention of the virus, first of all individually, observing the already known prevention measures: physical distance, hand washing, frequent ventilation of confined spaces and use of a mask are everyone's responsibility.

But let's not forget that along with individual responsibility, the responsibility of "those above" must coexist.

Carrying out policies and strategies that, among other measures, guarantee tracing, diagnostic tests and that put in place all the necessary mechanisms to achieve an effective vaccine is also essential.

While some develop the vaccine, the rest of us will have to develop our patience.

There is no other.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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