In spite of the manifest need on the part of several sectors of health professionals, and of the work to reach an agreement, three scientific societies of our country have confirmed their discomfort at the news in the health press, regarding the decision of the Ministry of Health to bet on a single vaccine calendar of minimums.
The Spanish Association of Pediatrics, the Spanish Association of Vacunology and the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene, understand that the process must be matured further with the commitment to propose reasonable time periods for the implementation of new recommendations. That is, the single vaccine calendar is a priority issue, but it must be reached in a calm and reasoned way, without causing negative collateral effects and with the maximum possible support of scientific societies, as well as other sectors involved, premises that are not being met.
According to the scientific societies mentioned, there is a definition of a unique calendar that appears in the document "Evaluation Criteria for Basifying Modifications in the Vaccination Program in Spain", approved by the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System in September 2012. This definition it contemplates the possibility of vaccinations in an age range instead of at a specific age, which allows keeping the current recommendations and avoiding creating unnecessary problems.
However, the minimum schedule just proposed contradicts and invalidates this agreement. In fact, vaccines included in the calendars of some Autonomous Communities have been withdrawn without studies to assess the impact on health of those affected, and decisions have also been made contrary to the recommendations of scientific societies (such as passing the vaccination age against human papillomavirus at age 14, when in some autonomies administered at earlier ages).
The urgency to implement a unique calendar in all CC. AA It cannot cause deterioration, or regress, in some of the vaccine strategies that exist in several of them
Intervention on vaccine-preventable diseases
The representatives of the entities that lead the disagreement with the vaccine schedule of minimums (of imminent publication) specify that 'vaccination with conjugate vaccines against pneumococcus is a priority in children under 5 years, mainly in children under two'.
They also value that the current epidemiological situation makes it necessary to maximize surveillance over whooping cough, to take measures of population intervention such as vaccinating pregnant women in the third trimester.
The only motivations that move societies of experts to make their clinical recommendations are based on scientific, public, proven and endorsed by international scientific organizations, and are followed in a large number of countries around us.
The position of scientific societies is in line with proposals made by the Ministry of Health itself in the Program Presentation and Vaccination Record, although these societies are not participants in the decisions already taken by the health authorities.
