Pediatricians call for maintaining hand washing and vaccination schedule

With the back to schoolthe Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) has requested to maintain the wash frequent hand washing and vaccination schedule: “The incidence of Covid-19 is at the lowbut we do not know what will happen when the cold“said the third vice-president of AEPap, Pedro Gorrotxategi.

The descent of coronavirus cases during the last few months, especially in the number of patients in the UCIShas made it possible to carry out the first return to the classroom no measurements special protective measures since the beginning of the pandemic. Faced with this situation, the pediatricians urge the population to maintain the caution in schools, where the social interactions and activities in interiors will facilitate the contagion among the population children.

Hygiene, exteriors and ventilation.

The organization has emphasized the importance of hand washingeither with gel hydroalcoholic or with water and soap. Likewise, in order to prevent hands from being a transmission pathway of infections, it is important to cover the mouth with tissues disposable or with the elbow when coughing and sneezing.

Along the same lines, teachers are urged to carry out activities in the outside weather conditions permitting, in addition to. ventilate adequately ventilate classrooms and other indoor spaces in centers. The AEPap has also emphasized that children from six or more years of age with catarrhal symptoms mild may use mask facial mask for a few days, until your symptoms improveboth in the school as in others areas.

Importance of the vaccination schedule.

The pediatricians warn that schools may be the scenario of contagion of many others infections in addition to Covid-19. For this reason, since Primary Care advise to keep the vaccination schedule: “The vaccinations of the rotavirus (for infants less than six months old) and the influenza (from six months of age) are included in the official immunization schedules only for some children from more at risk. But both vaccines can be used in all childrenat the corresponding age for each one, to improve the protection natural protection against these infections,” said AEPap’s spokesperson on vaccines, Hernández-Merino.

To this, Gorrotxategi has added that the pandemic has caused a decline of vaccinations children’sand therefore they could return some diseases which until now had been rare: “This is the case of measleswhich can have serious consequences, or even the poliomyelitisa terrible disease that causes death and paralysis, which, as seen in London y New YorkIf vaccination is neglected, it may even reappear in countries western“, he warned.

Regarding the monkeypoxexperts claim that the risk of transmission in schools is “really very low“. “The isolation of the sick in their homes, until the symptoms disappearis the necessary measure, and which makes the activity in the schools are not a risky environmentor special environment for this disease. It should not be a reason for concern important concern in schools,” they concluded.