The Canary Islands Health Service are already preparing to administer the fourth dose of the Covid vaccine to everyone over 60 years of age and health personnel, in the autumn, but they are very concerned that vaccination against the infection is stagnant and barely moves in certain age groups.
Currently, only 14.52% of the population between 18 and 19 years old have been inoculated with the booster dose, and coverage in the paediatric population has remained at 51.9%.
“We are organizing the inoculation of the next booster dose in the fall. This campaign is very focused on vulnerable people and those over 60 years old. It will begin in nursing homes and socio-health centres for people with disabilities, and health personnel will also receive it.”
“We are already working to organize everything to be prepared, although as yet we still don’t have a firm start date, just that it will be in September,” explains Begoña Reyero, the head of the vaccination campaign in the Canary Islands.
The campaign will also be used "to recapture those who have not been vaccinated or who have not had the booster dose, and to work with the child population to expand coverage," she added.
Reyero points out that in the Canary Islands "we have good coverage for the vulnerable population, quite adequate although there is always room for improvement, but there has been a break in the young population.”
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, only 14.52% of the population between 18 and 19 years old have had the third dose against Covid or booster dose (5,948 young people), the national average is 29.10 %.
93.9% of youth between the ages of 12 and 19 have had one dose and 92.6% have been fully vaccinated, but very few have had the third dose. As the age groups rise, the percentage of people who have received the booster dose increases, but between 20 and 29 years of age it is only 27.40% and between 30 and 39 years of age it is 37.79%.
“We are facing a population in which a greater effort must be made. It is a population that perhaps does not realise or have a perception of the risk involved. Perhaps they are people who have had a mild case of Covid and because of their own beliefs they consider that they no longer need to be vaccinated and we must raise awareness and fight against the ‘guidance’ they are getting from social media,” she said.
