\ Pneumococcus-related diseases mainly affect children under five years of age and the elderly.
\ The contract for the supply of this conjugate vaccine is for the years 2023 and 2024 and the estimated value of the contract is 3.2 M€.
Purchase of a 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
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The Consell de Govern authorizes the contracting of the supply of the 20-serotype pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the years 2023 and 2024, for an estimated value of 3.2 M€. Pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) are major health problems associated mainly with the existence of risk factors and also related to age. In Spain, in recent years, the national epidemiological surveillance network (RENAVE) has recorded between 3,000 and 4,000 cases per year and it mainly affects children under five years of age and the elderly.
Vaccination is a fundamental tool to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease and, for this reason, in 2016 the vaccine was included in the children’s calendar. In the case of older people, the vaccine was already administered to people in at-risk groups and in 2018 the Public Health Commission approved universal vaccination at 65 years of age.
In 2022, a new 20-serotype conjugate vaccine (VPC20) was authorized for the adult population, covering practically the same spectrum of pneumococcal serotypes as the previous ones (especially those of greatest concern in terms of the impact of the disease), whose technology significantly improves the response and, therefore, protection. Consequently, we now have a tool that improves the effectiveness of the vaccines we have had up to now and, as regards the groups most at risk due to underlying pathologies and elderly institutionalized persons, it improves efficiency, since it reduces the cost of the vaccine and vaccination and increases protection.
Within this context, the General Directorate of Public Health and Participation approved the recommendation of the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Balearic Islands to replace the previous vaccines in adult vaccination with the new VPC20 vaccine, both for routine vaccination as well as for vaccination of at-risk groups. This indication could be extended, if the technical criteria make it advisable, when the vaccine is authorized for all ages and if its use is compatible with the guidelines established for routine childhood vaccination.