Overview
- The Asociación Española de Vacunología unveiled its nationwide drive, “El mejor plan para este invierno, vacúnate,” to encourage pre-winter vaccination against influenza and COVID-19.
- Recommendations call for people 60 and older and those at risk to get the flu vaccine and check pneumococcal status, for those 70 and older to receive a COVID-19 shot, and for parents to vaccinate children aged 6 to 59 months against flu.
- Only 48.16% of children 6 to 59 months received the flu vaccine in the last campaign, and flu vaccination among healthcare workers was about 39–40% in 2024 versus a 75% target.
- Cited studies associate flu vaccination with roughly a 35% reduction in cardiovascular events within 12 months, a 12–16% lower risk of ischemic stroke, and an 18% drop in all-cause mortality among people with hypertension.
- Additional evidence notes an 82% lower mortality with COVID vaccination in heart-failure patients, a roughly 30% rise in cardiovascular events after influenza or pneumococcal infection, and an annual flu burden in Spain of about 28,000–30,000 hospitalizations and at least 1,600 deaths.