About nine months ago the Ministry of Health decided to block the chickenpox vaccine, leaving it only for hospital use and to be administered to children 12 years of age who have not passed the disease. With this decision he turned his back on WHO, which considers it a recommended vaccine to be administered systematically in developed countries and the AEP, which in its calendar of vaccines for 2013 and 2014 continues to recommend it at 12 months.
We are many health professionals who do not understand the decision of the Ministry of Health, which we do not share, and many parents who, feeling the same, are looking for alternatives to vaccinate their children with chickenpox. Then we tell you what to do if you want to give the chickenpox vaccine to your children and where you live you can't buy it.
Buy chickenpox vaccine in Spain
As I said, the chickenpox vaccine is blocked throughout Spain but there are two areas where it can still be purchased. One of them is Ceuta and melilla, which for obvious reasons is quite far from the reach of Spaniards living on the peninsula and the other is Navarre. In this Autonomous Community they decided a few years ago to make an economic effort and systematically vaccinate all children. They were vaccinated at 15-18 months, but also for older children who had not passed chickenpox, placing another dose at six years and a "repesca" at ten years. What did they get with this? You can see it in the following graphic taken from the Navarra Public Health Bulletin:
As you see in the data, chickenpox cases have decreased greatly. It was to start vaccinating in 2007 and begin to decrease cases drastically. In addition, the most severe chickenpox have also declined and, after the effort they made, they have refused to comply with the Ministry's guidelines because withdrawing the vaccine would be a rebound in the disease. In the words of Marta Vera, Minister of Health of Navarra:
The disease is practically eradicated in Navarra and to stop doing so would be to lose the investment in health that we have made in recent years with much effort.
So the only option, if you want to get it in Spain, is buy it in Navarra. Navarra pharmacies sell it, but not all. Ideally, talk to the pharmacy before, as they have received an order that they should not trade with the vaccine for people outside the community, as it is a drug blocked in the country.
It is essential to go with the doctor's prescription
Some pharmacies sell the vaccine without a prescription, but they usually ask for it. I have spoken with some of them and, to be cured in health, they request a white prescription from a pediatrician, with his stamp, in which he indicates the vaccine for the child, with the name of the child and with the number of doses he asks for ( It is normal to request both doses, since a white prescription expires at 3 months).
Should we go there to buy it or send it?
To date I know that many pharmacies sent it through cold transport (Seur or similar), with an extra cost of about € 20-30. In theory, sent in this way, there is no problem with the cold chain. However, they have received the order not to make this type of shipments so, as I say, not to trade with it, which is not legal, and although you may find pharmacies that do it, it is easier to get it if you show up there on-site.
Does the child travel or travel the vaccine?
When it comes to giving the child the vaccine there are two options. There are parents who prefer to travel the vaccine, through cold transport or in their car in a little cooler, so that they can put the child in their health center and there are others who prefer that the child travel.
If you travel the vaccine you have to keep the cold chain, but never in a fridge with ice, since I could freeze it. The vaccine must travel at a temperature between 2 and 8ºC, which is the temperature with which it stays stable longer. Once it comes home, we must put it in the refrigerator until the day of administration. If they put it in the usual health center, perfect. If not, you have to look for some private center where they administer medication subcutaneously or intramuscularly.
If the child travels, you are in the same situation. You get the vaccine and then you have to ask at the pharmacy which center you can go to. If in the public center you do not want to manage it, because you are a child of another autonomous community (it is logical that they refuse), you will have to look for a private center.
How important is the cold chain?
One of the reasons why many pharmacies refuse to sell it to individuals and why some pediatricians and health centers from abroad refuse to administer a vaccine that parents bring is because of the possible loss of the cold chain. It is an important issue, but I consider that they are giving it more importance than it actually has.
When the parents bring the Prevenar vaccine or the Rotateq vaccine, nobody is afraid to administer it and it is the parents who bring it, who knows if they are from home, from the pharmacy, or if they have gone to look for it in the desert. They bring it and nobody refuses to put it on the child. Well, with this vaccine the same thing happens, parents buy it, anywhere, and they are responsible for keeping it cold.
What many parents do not know, as many pediatricians do not know (I actually thought they endured much less), is that vaccines endure without cold more than we think. The chickenpox vaccine, at 2-8ºC, is stable between 18 and 24 months. TO 22-25 ° C is stable one week. These data are generic, regardless of the brand or the particular composition. If we talk about the Varivax, it seems that up to 20 ° C is stable 72 hours. I can not imagine a trip back from Navarra that lasts more than 72 hours and in any cooler with a cold accumulator it can be kept below those 20ºC. Then at home he puts himself in the fridge again, at 2-8ºC rigor, and that's it.
Buy the vaccine in Andorra, France or Portugal
Another option is to buy the vaccine outside of Spain. In Andorra and France, the price is quite lower, as we said in its day, and that is why many parents choose to ask for it with cold transport. This option, (as in Navarra) is not legal, and the doubt is in how is it sent. Some parents receive it perfectly but there have been cases of parents who receive it in a thermal envelope, with a cold accumulator, but transported as a normal and current package. In such cases, it is not possible to know at what temperatures the vaccine has been exposed.
Another option is to travel there to buy it. The problem is that you go through customs, and they already know each other cases of parents who have had the vaccineWell, I repeat, it is illegal to buy medicines in other countries.
So there is only the option to travel with the child, buy it and manage it there In some private center. The child travels, not the vaccine, there is no risk with maintaining the temperature of the vaccine and the child returns to Spain already vaccinated.
But, all this is amazing ...
I know. I am writing it myself and hallucinating myself with seeing myself explaining the options to administer a vaccine that is administered systematically in Navarra having shown incredible results, which was administered in Madrid, with similar results, but that will soon begin to decline and soon you will see a rebound in illness and that is administered in many developed countries. A vaccine that is a benefit for children, who do not catch a disease that can be complicated, for parents, who do not lose work days and for adults, who have less risk of suffering from the disease, as there are no children who can infect them .
Photos | Thinkstock
In Babies and more | Who needs an anti-vaccine movement with the Ministry of Health that we have ?, Chickenpox in children: everything you need to know, Chickenpox vaccine: everything there is to know, A 3-year-old girl dies from the virus of chickenpox
