Gallegos over 65 will have a reinforced flu vaccine

The people over 65 years of age from Galicia will be able to receive the enhanced flu vaccine. This was announced by the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, informing of the expansion in the next campaign of the supply of the reinforced inactivated influenza vaccine (Efluelda), specifically to people of between 65 and 69 years old.

“Offers more protection against the virus and strengthens the immune system with proven effectiveness“, explained the head of the Galician Government in this sense, recalling that in the last campaign “this vaccine was aimed at those over 60 years of age who lived in a residence and the general population aged 70 and over.”

In this way, the target population of this vaccine will increase by 35%reaching 730,000 people throughout the community, compared to the current 540,000.

“To make this possible, we also agreed in the Council increase the allocation to acquire reinforced flu vaccines for the next campaignthrough an investment of close to €9M”, he stated, as reported in a note.

And, as they explain, this reinforced vaccine has a greater amount of antigenswhich strengthens the system’s immune response and promotes greater protection against the virus. In this way, the Xunta seeks to reduce mortality, morbidity and the impact of the flu on the population, optimizing, in turn, the socioeconomic costs associated with their suffering.

“Galicia was the first region in the world to sign an effectiveness contract with suppliers through which we link acquisitions to the effectiveness of the doses acquired”, Rueda has also recalled, who has assured that “if certain achievements are not met such as, for example, that this vaccine reduces the number of hospital admissions compared to the standard vaccine, a lower price will be paid for each dose”.

In Galicia, the last flu vaccination campaign registered a total 883,892 people vaccinatedimproving coverage data in all age groups and target population. In fact, in the case of people over 65 years of age, about 73% were vaccinated.