África González-Fernández

Global childhood immunisation coverage stagnated in 2023, with 2.7 million more children unvaccinated or under-vaccinated than at pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This is one of the data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF in the World Health Organization's Worldwide Estimates of National Immunisation Coverage (WUENIC), which captures global vaccination trends against 14 diseases. More than half of unvaccinated children live in 31 countries with fragile and conflict-affected environments. 

Toledo and Alicante are suffering the first outbreaks of measles recorded in Spain since the pandemic, El País reported today. In total, 15 cases have been confirmed since 1 January, of which seven are imported and eight autochthonous.

A study has analysed more than 100 environmental factors and their impact on the immune response. After studying about a thousand volunteers, its conclusions are that smoking is the factor that causes the most alterations in defences. While some changes are transient, others may remain for years after quitting. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Two teams of researchers have separately described a population of memory lymphocytes that may be responsible for the persistence of allergies over time. The work has analysed responses to allergens such as those present in peanuts, dust and birch. According to the authors, whose research is published in Science Translational Medicine, these cells could serve as a target for the treatment of various types of allergies.

The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their groundbreaking discoveries, which have radically changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, and made it possible to develop vaccines at unprecedented speed during the covid-19 pandemic.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has licensed Hipra's vaccine - currently called Bimervax - against SARS-CoV-2 as a booster in people aged 16 years and older who have previously been vaccinated with mRNA vaccines. The EMA began the ongoing evaluation of the vaccine, which was expected to be approved in the middle of last year, on 29 March 2022.

A study in mice has found that high doses of the sweetener sucralose can reduce the immune response and, under certain laboratory conditions, alter its action against infections or tumours. The results are published in the journal Nature.

During Pfizer's appearance before the European Parliament this week, a company executive responded to the question of whether "Pfizer's vaccine was tested to stop transmission of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) before going to market" by saying "no".

Según datos de la OMS y UNICEF, 25 millones de niños no han recibido sus vacunas contra la difteria, el tétanos y la tosferina (DTP) a nivel global. Se trata de la mayor caída continuada en cobertura vacunal en casi treinta años.

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced in an interview on La Sexta that there will be a fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine "for the entire population".