What do pediatricians recommend to buy vaccines in pharmacies?
Prevent always is better than cure. In that sense, the vaccinations They are presented as a prevention system to prevent diseases. Some of them can be purchased in pharmacies, are those that do not include the official calendar of childhood vaccination and, therefore, do not provide health centers of Social Security. But how do you know when to buy them and in what quantity?
Vaccines not included in the official immunization schedules are not supplied at health centers and families must purchase them at a pharmacy. The Spanish Association of Pediatrics, AEP, faced with the growing demand for vaccines in pharmacies, has decided to resolve through advice some of the most frequent doubts of families in this regard. According to this agency, poor planning when purchasing these products causes a lack of supply. The problem has arisen in a generalized way with the liberalization of the sale of the vaccine against Meningitis B, previously restricted to the hospital environment and not yet included in the vaccination schedules.
Vaccines one to one
Pediatricians complain that, on many occasions, pharmacists They recommend that families buy all doses at once. There are even establishments that suggest buying double of these products for the brothers. The AEP states that this ends up by not having enough vaccines for all the plaintiffs.
The most advisable, according to the pediatricians of the AEP, is to acquire the vaccines one by one, since this will avoid "delays in the administration of the following doses and save possible cases of new stockouts." Remember that the complete immunization schedule includes from two to four doses, with a minimum interval between them of one or two months depending on the age.
Problems in the conservation of vaccines
Pediatricians maintain that in addition to supply problems, acquiring numerous vaccines can also cause several problems in its conservation. These products require a temperature of two to eight degrees centigrade so they do not deteriorate. If it is not met or if the cold chain breaks, it can alter the properties of these compounds.
If several units are purchased at once, it is possible that not all of them can be stored at this temperature. Most refrigerators at home maintain a higher level of cold. This will end up making these products unusable for the future.
Recommendations for the purchase of vaccines in pharmacies
The pediatricians of the AEP launch a series of recommendations to families who are thinking of acquiring vaccines through pharmacies:
- Buy with immediate use. Vaccines are best stored in pharmacies. The families that acquire them should have in mind to use them almost on the same day since saving them for the future is useless.
- Think about other parents. Surely after a month the child does not need a new dose. For this reason, it is unnecessary to buy several at once. Doing this only means that another family can not acquire it.
- Transportation in an appropriate medium. Once the vaccine is purchased, its transportation home should be in an isothermal bag that secures the cold chain.
- The right moment. The ideal is to buy the vaccine before going to the health center where it will be administered.
Damián Montero
