Influenza season arrives and vaccination campaign begins

Las respiratory infections Acute infections represent the main cause of morbidity in the world and the most frequent reason for the use of health services in all countries. In Mexico, it constitutes a priority health problem, ranking among the ten main causes of death in different age groups, reported the country’s Secretary of Health.

Among these respiratory ailments is seasonal fluwhich increases during the months of October to March.

It should be noted that seasonal influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by the ribonucleic acid virus (ARN) and it is known that the viral types that affect humans are types A, B, C, which present a pattern of higher seasonal incidence in winter, in such a way that the use of a vaccine that includes the variants is required. viral detected.

According to the World Health Organization (OMS) annually could occur globally up to 1 billion infections, of which 3 to 5 million adopt a serious clinical behavior, occurring between 300,000 and 500,000 annual deaths. Hence the importance of vaccination.

Vaccination

The World Health Organization (WHO) holds technical consultations in February and September of each year to recommend the viruses to be included in the influenza vaccine for the following seasons in both the northern and southern hemispheres. On this occasion, he announced immunization to be used in the 2022-2023 season for the northern hemisphere.

“The vaccine used in Mexico is an inactive formulation of two type A viruses and one type B, which are modified annually according to the dominance of the circulating strains and the antigenic composition recommended by the WHO for the northern hemisphere,” reported the federal Secretary of Health.

In Mexico, the vaccination campaign for the 2022-2023 seasonal influenza season began on October 3, 2022 and will end in March 2023. The objective is to have an advance equal to or greater than 70% in coverage at the national level by October 31. December 2022 and 100% by the end of the campaign, the federal health agency said.

The federal agency has clarified that the efficacy of the vaccine to prevent the disease is variable and is remarkably low if the composition of the vaccine does not coincide with the circulating A and B strains for the winter period in which it is being used. However, the corresponding to avoid serious cases and therefore deaths, is high, therefore, it focuses on population groups that if they get sick are more likely to present complications.

In the country, during the 2021-2022 season, 1,062,724 suspected cases of the type disease were reported. influenzaconfirming 3,081 positive cases by laboratory, the distribution by sex showed predominance in women (56%) compared to men (50 percent).

The Secretary of Health has indicated that in this first stage, among the target population for vaccination is: pediatric (children from 6 to 59 months of age) and adult population (over 60 years of age, pregnant women, health personnel) and population from 5 to 59 years of age with comorbidities).

In addition to vaccination, the National system of health promotes the following preventive measures:

• Hand washing.
• Respiratory etiquette when coughing or sneezing.
• Avoid handshake or kiss.
• Stay at home and do not go to crowded places if you have respiratory symptoms.
• Keep common spaces ventilated.
• Avoid self-medication.
• Seek care in a timely manner.

alba.servin@eleconomista.mx