Two days ago we told you that the chickenpox vaccine, if expectations and information that come from other means are met, will be available again in pharmacies and through social security in those autonomous communities that decide to subsidize it.
This situation, in which for a year and a half many babies have not been vaccinated and some remained hung with a single administered vaccine generates doubts in the parents who do not know if because they are older they can give it to the children. That is why, next, we answer the question: Can I wear it to my child if he is older than the age of the administration schedule?
And what does the administration guideline say?
According to the information we have, the administration of chickenpox vaccine, upon return, will be to administer the first dose at 12 months and the second (A second dose of memory is administered for a few years) 3 years. For babies who have not yet reached the year, the guideline is very simple: when it reaches 12 months, the first one is set and the second is 3 years old, but for those who are already a year and a half, or two years old, doubts appear . Can't you put on the first one? Do you only put the second one at 3 years?
Actually, age is only an orientation
The pattern set by the Ministry is nothing more than an orientation, a recommendation to unify criteria and make them all the same. The reality of the practice is very different, because then each Autonomous Community does what it thinks best and even then, each center establishes its own recommendations. In the Primary Care Center where I work, for example, we put it at 12 months the first and at 18 months the second.
But actually the first dose of the vaccine can be put at any time. The 12 months are the time when it can begin to be administered (before that age it is not recommended, unless you are in an epidemic situation and decide to advance on time) but that does not mean that it has to be at that age. If you have a 20-month-old child who has never been vaccinated, you can perfectly give the first dose as soon as you get it. If you have a 29-month-old daughter you can put it perfectly when you get it. Even if you have a 4-year-old daughter and now you are interested in putting it on because she has not passed chickenpox, you can put it on.
And then, the second dose?
Well, it will depend on how they do it in each center, but the important thing is that between the first and the second there at least one month apart, What is it what is recommended in the leaflet:
Children 12 months to 12 years of age: To ensure optimal protection against chickenpox, two doses of VARIVAX should be administered with a dose interval of at least 1 month.
That is, if we put the first at 18 months, the second can be administered at 3 years according to the official guideline or, if you like, at 19 months. In the same way, if the first one is put at 4 years, one month later the second dose can already be used.
This same rule is met at age 12, when he enters systematically throughout Spain. One dose at 12 years and the other at least one month.
Different guideline if you enter through Social Security or if it is paid by parents
The pattern recommended by the Ministry I understand that it is intended to be imposed as a single guideline for the whole country, but in my view, it only makes sense in the autonomous communities where the vaccine is subsidized. In this way all children are vaccinated and the virus stops, stops running, or does so in a minimal way. Thus, with the virus almost controlled, vaccinating at 12 months and then at 3 years is perfectly feasible.
However, in the Autonomous Communities where the vaccine does not enter and it is the parents who have to pay for it, the vaccination rates will be low enough so that the virus continues to infect both unvaccinated children and the elderly who have not passed the vaccine. disease or have been vaccinated. In this sense, since it is the parents who pay for the vaccines and decide to protect their children, I would administer the two vaccines as close as possible to each other, perhaps with a schedule in which the first dose would be administered at 12 months and the second at 13 or 14 months.
