Overview
- Family doctors say the epidemic is running about a month early, with high intensity expected in early December and a possible peak around the Christmas holidays.
- Experts from the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine base the alert on European surveillance data and increasing respiratory infections observed in primary care.
- A suspected H3N2 subclade K, not included in this season’s vaccine, may be driving faster transmission without evidence of greater intrinsic severity.
- Physicians urge immediate reinforcement of health centers and hospitals and a rapid acceleration of vaccination for older adults, immunocompromised patients, and people with chronic conditions.
- Officials warn the early onset shortens the effective vaccination window because protection develops about two weeks after the shot.