Not long ago, the World Health Organization has recommended that the pneumococcal conjugate heptavalent vaccine be included in all vaccine schedules in the world, this measure has been well received by the pediatric group, since the diseases caused caused the death of the minus one million children every year.
In Babies and more we talked last year about the inclusion of this vaccine in the vaccine calendar of the Community of Madrid, a wise action supported and endorsed by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics. However, neither the recommendations of the WHO nor of this association have served for the Ministry of Health to consider at once including this vaccine at the national level. The Ministry's argument for such action is that this vaccine could cause problems in the other circulating serogroups, that is, the protection of this vaccine is only against 7 (the most aggressive) of all the serotypes that make up the pneumococcus. The truth is that if the WHO approves it and the Spanish Association of Pediatrics also, should not put any fault and in some way, question what the WHO dictates.
Even the specialists indicate that despite the tests that are still to be carried out or the inclusion of protection against new serotypes, this does not indicate that the vaccine cannot be included, since for the moment thousands of children would be protected.
The truth is that the only downside that can be put is perhaps the economic cost, a topic that the government cares about many times more than the health of the population.
