By Nathan Allen and Inti Landauro
MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that people under the age of 55 without serious health complications who had previously contracted coronavirus should wait six months before receiving a vaccine.
The preliminary measure, which looks unique in Europe, applies to the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna and the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca currently being distributed in Spain.
The decision justified the decision to prioritize those without a history of COVID-19, and the reinfection within six months is ‘extraordinary’.
A large UK study published last week found that 99% of participants who had previously tested positive antibodies for three months, while 88% still had them after six months.
“If there is no shortage of vaccine and they are confident that they can reliably and confidently identify previously infected people, there is a reason for it,” said Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Britain. of Edinburgh.
People over the age of 55 or people with health risks that make them vulnerable to reinfection have been exempted from the delay, the ministry said.
So far, health workers are the only people under 55 to be vaccinated under Spain’s vaccination strategy.
With its third wave subsiding, Spain’s infection rate dropped from 14 days on Tuesday to 493 cases per 100,000 people, compared to about 900 just two weeks ago.
The death toll rose from 643 to 63,704, while the Ministry of Health reported 18,114 infections, bringing the total count to 3.02 million.
When authorities began vaccinating a wider section of society with the recently approved AstraZeneca shot, Madrid’s regional government said it would turn stadiums and other large venues into vaccination centers.
Elsewhere in Europe, several Italian epidemiologists have said it is useless to vaccinate those already infected, but Rome has made no decision on whether to give repairs to patients.
The French health agency of France believes that it is not necessary to vaccinate people who have developed a symptomatic form of the disease, although patients can still take a chance three months after the onset of symptoms. And authorities in the Netherlands still recommend getting a jab after contracting the disease, a minimum of four weeks after getting symptoms.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo and Nathan Allen in Madrid and Kate Kelland in London; Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi and Richard Lough; Editing by Alex Richardson and Steve Orlofsky)