If last month we informed you that the Ministry of Health had approved the return of the chickenpox vaccine to pharmacies, and also its inclusion in the official calendar, today we announce the last movement of the Ministry, which has decided that the meningitis B vaccine, which until now was only administered at the hospital level, can be purchased at pharmacies on October 1.
Sounds like a new vaccine, but it isn't
To most Spaniards the vaccine of Meningitis B will sound new, or a vaccine that they had no record of, or they might think that their son is already taking it because they know they put the meningitis, but they don't know that the one that is written down on his vaccination card is meningitis C.
The case is that it is not. It is a vaccine that arrived in Spain 2 years ago, at which time we explain that it would only be for hospital use, for children with chronic or immunosuppressed diseases. Already by then surprised this limitation by the AEMPS (Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products), which made us the only country in Europe to limit its use and distribution. This meant that all European parents who wanted to be able to vaccinate their children against meningitis B, except the Spanish (in the United Kingdom, in addition, entered directly into the vaccination calendar).
A year later, in 2014, the AEP (Spanish Association of Pediatrics) brought up the issue again and insisted that it was a vaccine that should be on the state calendar, or at least in pharmacies, so parents could decide what to do.
Communiqué of the Ministry of Health
Now, the Ministry of Health, at the request of the AEMPS, which has classified the vaccine as "unrestricted medical prescription", has issued a statement explaining that as of October 1 the vaccine will be in pharmacies. In it, we read this:
The vaccine was initially rated by the AEMPS as hospital use based on its pharmacological characteristics and its novelty, according to Spanish legislation. However, AEMPS, which continuously evaluates all authorized medications, has evaluated new quality and safety data submitted by the company after the distribution of more than 1,200,000 doses of the vaccine worldwide and has modified the conditions of dispensing the vaccine to be available at the pharmacy offices.
Once this decision is made, the holder of the marketing authorization has to adapt its packaging to the new dispensing conditions, which will occur as of this month of October.
This is a decision that places Spain in line with the rest of the countries of the European Union, where it is dispensed in a pharmacy office. As for the official recommendations, they are maintained for risk groups and to deal with outbreaks and for contacts of isolated cases.
Is it an important vaccine?
If the meningitis C vaccine is funded by social security and is considered important, this is even more important, and that is why, although it is a great step, they are still short. According to the data offered by the same AEMPS, the rates notified in the European Union between 2011 and 2012 are 0.80 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, being 65% of cases caused by meningococcus B (Meningococcus B is the one that produces more cases of meningitis).
The AEP, meanwhile, explains that type B meningococcus is the cause of 7 out of 10 cases of meningitis in Spain and that in 2013 there were between 400 and 600 affected (figures slightly higher than those exposed by the AEMPS, which at 0.80 per 100,000 would give about 376 cases a year).
Of all cases, it is estimated that one in ten is insurmountable, dies, and the rest can be left with serious sequelae such as seizures, deafness and mental retardation. In other words: 400 annual cases do not seem many in the total of Spanish children, but if we take into account that many die and that many are left with sequels, the thing is much more serious (more serious than when we talk about measles, for example , which has a lower mortality and leaves much less sequelae).
When is it administered?
According to the AEMPS report it is a vaccine that It begins to be administered at 2 months, but that can actually be put at any age (for older children who don't have it on). In the absence of an official statement of praxis that reaches the health centers, the administration schedule is as follows:
Of course, the fact sheet explains that when administered with others it seems that the probability of fever increases and it is recommended that, whenever possible, be administered separately.
