Filenews 14 September 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Within the next fortnight, the first batches of flu vaccines are expected to arrive in Cyprus and the Ministry of Health is under steam as proper planning is required, given the fact that these vaccines concern to a huge extent the population groups that will receive this year, at the same time and the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
According to information from "F", for this year, the ministry of health plans to receive a total of 170,000 vaccines against influenza. The 50,000 will concern children and infants from six months to three years of age and the remaining 120,000 people over 65 years of age and people of younger ages who belong to the vulnerable groups of the population and must be vaccinated with the flu vaccine. In 2020, a total of 155,000 vaccines had been received by the ministry of health.
The first two batches of flu vaccines are expected in Cyprus in the last week of September and will involve a total of 50,000 vaccines. In the month of October, two other larger receipts are planned, involving a total of 110,000 flu vaccines. The 55,000 vaccines are expected in mid-October and another 65,000 are scheduled for the 31st of the month.
Based on last year's procedure, the flu vaccines will be administered by the GHS's personal doctors (or through the vaccination centres, if necessary), to pensioners and people with serious chronic diseases. That is, the groups of the population, which, as has been decided, will receive the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the same time.
However, until yesterday, the ministry of health, was not in a position to give more information in relation to the coronavirus booster vaccination program, since it is waiting for the green light from the deputy ministry of innovation which has undertaken the adaptation of the electronic vaccination platform that will be used to arrange an appointment, based on the procedure followed and during the initial vaccination.
It is of course stated that the administration of a third dose of coronavirus vaccine to nursing homes is already underway.
Regarding the particularity of this year in which the same groups of the population will be asked to receive both vaccines at almost the same time, associate professor of pharmacology and member of the Advisory Scientific Committee Christos Petrou, told "F" that although in clinical studies, participants had to adhere to a minimum period of 14 days before and after the administration of a flu vaccine in order to receive either a placebo or the COVID-19 vaccine, "the American CDC states that they can be administered together" "from the data we have at the moment before us, there does not seem to be any problem for administering the two vaccines at the same time. Internationally, this debate is under way as there are different views on whether the two vaccines could be administered simultaneously or whether it is necessary to mediate some time, at least a few days, or is there also a concern as to whether this period should be determined only in cases where the person has an allergy when taking the first of the two vaccines but this, it mainly concerns the process of recording side effects since if the administration is simultaneous, one will not be able to say which of the two vaccines caused each side effect.
Double vaccination should not be considered a problem
The member of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Christos Petrou, pointed out at the same time that, the vaccination for the flu, "can last from the end of September until the end of November or even later, so with proper planning and since the data allow it, the double vaccination of the same groups of the population should not be considered a problem".
Surely the opinion of the National Immunization Committee is needed, since there will now be other cases of vaccines that will need to be administered in a near time with the vaccines against COVID.
Regarding the administration of the third dose of vaccine against the coronavirus to specific groups of the population, Mr. Petrou stressed that "from the international data and from the studies that see the light of publicity from the health systems of other countries, the need for supportive vaccination of elderly people and the vulnerable, especially the immunosuppressed, is confirmed, since there is a continuous increase in the percentages of people belonging to these categories, although fully vaccinated since the beginning of the year, they are infected by the coronavirus and end up in hospitals in a serious condition or even die". With the administration of the additional/booster dose, cases in these groups are correspondingly reduced. Scientifically we expect it to be confirmed whether the covid vaccination regimen ultimately needs to be completed in three doses (instead of 2) and in which populations."
