Population aged 35 to 39 can now make appointments for vaccination

BarcelonaThe secretary of Public Health, Carmen Cabezas, announced Thursday that those born between 1982 and 1986, who are between 35 and 39, and can make an appointment for vaccination against covid on the department's website. A week after allowing 40 to 44-year-olds and observing that the pace of inoculations is agile (20% have received the first dose), the department has also begun to send SMS to those aged between 35 and 39 urging them to book an appointment to receive a vaccine in a primary care center or a vaccination point. Only an hour after the possibility of booking an appointment was opened, there were peaks of 38,000 users per minute trying to book a date and time.

The Health Department's idea is to vaccinate different age groups simultaneously and not wait to reach very high percentages of coverage to open up slots for the next group, as had happened so far so that "no vaccination slot is left empty". Cabezas has assured that acceptance of vaccines is very high and although a month ago up to 10% of people who had an appointment did not turn up, the call for responsibility made a few weeks ago has worked. "The percentage of people who do not show up has dropped to 2%," she celebrated

The Catalan Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, said that the epidemiological evolution continues to improve. The number of new infections, with approximately 450 diagnoses a week, continues to decline slowly but steadily and hospitals are also gradually emptying of coronavirus patients: this Wednesday there were 512 covid patients, 4.5% of the total admitted in conventional beds. As for the intensive care units (ICU), there are 179 patients, 21 less than the day before. At this point, therefore, only one in five critically ill patients has covid.

However, the advance of the Delta variant (which originated in India) makes it necessary to be very cautious: it is more transmissible and already accounts for 20% of cases in Catalonia. "It is growing stronger," admitted Argimon. In fact, the Department of Health predicts that in a fortnight or two it will be the predominant variant. "It is going down the same path as the Alpha (British) variant," explained Argimon, who has warned that this behaviour will be very common in the coming months. "We will not stay here, new variants will appear and this is very indicative that the pandemic is not over, although we have to go normalising our lives," he said

Need for second doses

The Delta variant is more transmissible and partially escapes vaccines, although they are effective in preventing its serious effects. Health has detailed that the first doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer have only 33% coverage against the Delta variant. Only when the second dose is administered is protection increased to 80.8%. Given these figures, the health authorities have again urged people to get vaccinated and have accelerated the administration of second doses.

"If we see that the Delta variant is out of control, we will take decisions that may be a step backwards," Argimon concluded. The warning comes when there are only a few days left for the acceleration of the de-escalation with the reopening of nightlife. However, Argimon has ensured that more than this opening or the festival of San Juan, is more concerned that this variant can "torçar" the positive trend of epidemiological data.

In total, 2,161,382 people in Catalonia have received full the guideline and 3,539,676 have started vaccination, 85% of whom are 50 or older. "We see that when the coverage of an age group goes over 40% or 50%, the drop in infections and admissions is very clear, almost abrupt," explained the Secretary of Public Health, Carmen Cabezas. Therefore, the second dose schedule of AstraZeneca for people born between 1952 and 1961 will be administered ten weeks after the first, rather than the twelve weeks scheduled initially.

However, those aged between 60 and 69 are the only ones that have been more reluctant to being vaccinated, a "whole", according to Cabezas. One in five people have not wanted to receive the first dose and only 10% have received the full guideline. This is a very vulnerable group to the virus, since their risk of becoming seriously ill is very high, as well as of being hospitalised, and the Department of Health insists that it is a priority to vaccinate them.

Cabezas has not ruled it out that the problem is that only AstraZeneca is administered to this group, the vaccine most often questioned due to infrequent cases of thrombosis and which, even so, was preferred by essential workers. In fact, Cabezas admitted that it will probably be necessary to open new strategies to attract these people, although she did not specify whether this will include offering them another vaccine.

Vaccinating fruit-pickers

The health authorities spoke from Alcarràs (Lleida), an area that suffered a lot last year, especially in summer, with the various outbreaks that proliferated in the fruit and vegetable sector. This Thursday an outbreak was discovered at cherry company Cerima Cherries of Tivissa (Riera d'Ebre), which already affects 71 people: 60 workers and 11 close contacts. The department had proposed vaccinating employees with negative results in the screening, as has been done with other seasonal fruit-pickers. "The vaccination was offered and also the possibility of going to a point very close to the company, but it was not possible to organise it," explained Cabezas. The Deparrtment of Health is no inspecting the company. "It is a controlled outbreak that is being studied and followed from all fronts," he added.

This year, the agricultural campaign will again be conditioned by the pandemic, but it will have a new asset: the vaccine. Doses are being administered at companies, in health centres, in hospitals and in vaccination points in Lleida and Alcarràs. In addition, the Department of Health "has worked intensively" on preventive measures: it has launched an education programme and made health information available for nearly a thousand people, as well as giving advice to a hundred companies in the industry. Screening has also been intensified and circuits have been set up to ensure the isolation and quarantine of vulnerable workers when they become infected or are close contacts of positives.