2024-02-11 00:49:11
A group of experts with a multidisciplinary composition has prepared a consensus document presented within the framework of the campaign undertaken by GSK and Mediaset Spain, through their corporate social communication initiative ‘Together for the Value of Health’. This document highlights the preventive potential of vaccination, scans future trends and proposes measures to address the challenges that arise in the post-COVID-19 era, with the aim of making vaccination a core element in our country.
COVID-19 has marked a change of era and opened an unprecedented window of opportunity, in which vaccination throughout life and, especially, in risk groups and people with compromised immune systems, emerges as a healthcare provision. permanent.
By 2030, vaccines will save about 100 million lives globally, according to a recent study that has also estimated the lives saved at 50 million between 2000 and 2019.
For more than 200 years, vaccines have been part of the fight against disease. Some, such as smallpox, have been completely eradicated through vaccination campaigns, and others, such as polio, have been eliminated in most countries thanks to the immunization of the population. A recent study established that vaccines had saved the lives of 50 million people globally between 2000 and 2019, and that this number will double by 20301. At the same time, vaccination reduces the impact of diseases on health services , is a cost-effective intervention at a social level and represents an effective control tool against future pandemics.
For all this, and to continue highlighting the preventive potential of vaccination, scan future trends and propose a set of interventions that address the challenges that arise and thus support a more preventive and proactive ecosystem, GSK together with A group of 10 multidisciplinary experts and the consulting firm Si-Health have developed the document “Vaccines, a promising future”, presented this morning in the Mediaset Spain studios within the framework of the campaign developed alongside the social communication initiative. business with the claim “Together, for the value of health”.
This joint action aims to highlight the power of vaccines to protect and prevent infections caused by different pathogens and improve the quality of life of risk groups and people with chronic and degenerative diseases, as well as to raise awareness in society of the impact positive of the constant ‘training’ of the immune system, always supervised by health professionals, in a healthy life.
The group of experts* in charge of preparing the document “Vaccines, a promising future” are specialists in preventive medicine, immunology, pediatrics, microbiology, pharmacy, family medicine, nursing, public health and communication. In addition, the document has, for the moment, the scientific endorsement of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (AEV).
For the working group consulted on “Vaccines. A promising future”, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been a turning point that has marked a before and after in the history of vaccination, opening an unprecedented window of opportunity thanks to the use of new technologies, such as the mRNA technique. On the other hand, the health crisis has shown that viruses do not know borders and, in a context of globalization with continuous migratory movements, vaccines, both in people and animals, have become a fundamental protective shield, especially against diseases. viral and/or zoonotic, with greater and more rapid spread. Furthermore, general information and training on vaccines and their development, as well as transparency in pre- and post-marketing safety surveillance, have contributed to increasing vaccine culture, both among health professionals and the general population.
In particular, the pandemic has led to an increase in social awareness regarding the effectiveness of vaccination, as well as a change in the population paradigm, capable of giving greater prominence to vaccination in adults, until now much less developed than childhood vaccination. The change towards “lifelong vaccination” is necessary, experts explain, since among adults there are population groups that can see their quality of life improved thanks to the vaccine potential: people who live with underlying chronic pathologies , who are living or have gone through oncological processes or other health problems that compromise their immune system, institutionalized patients, as well as older people with poor immune responses associated with age.
In Europe, more than 100 future vaccines are currently being developed in the field of prevention, of which 80% are focused on adults. More than half (54%) will be aimed at improving existing vaccines and incorporating new ones against tuberculosis, dengue and respiratory viruses such as influenza, COVID-19 and RSV. Among those already in existence, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, for example, prevent 1.1 million cases of liver, cervix, orthopharynx and anorectal cancer per year in the world[i]. And along with them, personalized therapeutic vaccines are also emerging that allow the immune system to be reconfigured against cancer cells, and represent a hopeful future for cancer patients. Within adult vaccination programs, those over 60 years of age represent one of the population groups of greatest interest, given the growing aging of the population. In this sense, the current vaccination schedule includes vaccines against influenza, pneumococcus, herpes zoster and diphtheria-tetanus for this group in Spain.[ii]but its expansion to more vaccines is expected in the future.
In this new post-pandemic era, vaccine intervention is being extended to new diseases and target populations. In addition, vaccines are easier and faster to produce, more flexible in distribution conditions and have more customization options for individual application, as stated in the presented document. However, there are still pending challenges to which medical groups, scientific researchers and public administration managers must respond. Age-related immune aging and other medical comorbidities, such as obesity, are capable of negatively influencing vaccine-induced immune responses. Likewise, unequal access to vaccines, regulatory barriers, the logistical challenge derived from supply and/or distribution problems, and the saturation of Primary Care, where the majority of vaccination campaigns are centralized, deserve to be analyzed in detail. search for solutions.
To try to face these new challenges, the group of experts in charge of preparing the document “Vaccines, a promising future” advocates continuing to promote a culture of credibility and trust around vaccination, through educational and citizen training campaigns. It is also necessary to strengthen health education and a healthy lifestyle among the population, improve the life experience of patients and make them feel involved in decision-making, as well as involve health professionals in this process. Finally, professionals demand greater investment and an improvement in the structures and coordination of initiatives focused on vaccination. Only in this way will we ensure that the implementation of vaccination throughout life can be a routine healthcare practice from which all people can benefit. L.D.B. (SyM)
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