The Ministry of Health assumes that the autonomous communities governed by the People’s Party will support the joint protocol against pandemic influenza this year. Minister Monica Garcia explained after a regional council was held that she realizes that this time “they will not put their political interests before the health of the population.” The date for approval is next December 3 during the Public Health Committee meeting. “The message cannot be that we are going to be lax on prevention,” Garcia said.
“Only two autonomous regions intervened with the same meaning as the Ministry,” Mónica García reported.
The protocol, “very similar” to last year, according to ministry sources, stipulates a series of infection scenarios to which a set of measures is applied. “It is a flexible protocol in the sense that it adapts to the situation of each independent community.”
Among them is the use of masks in health centers. In the first scenario, it is planned to recommend its application in specific areas of centers, and what is more serious, its application will become mandatory in almost all areas, both for professionals and for patients and family members. “It is essentially the same as in 2024,” the minister insisted.
The fact is that after making approval of a joint plan to confront last year’s influenza epidemic impossible – the document finally emerged as a set of recommendations – some autonomous communities governed by the Popular Party that had refused to support that plan began to implement it in November 2025. On Tuesday, the president of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, announced that he would make the wearing of masks compulsory in health centres, although the Ministry of Health was later forced to correct this to clarify that it was “strongly recommended”.
In Aragon, they are at level 2 of infection, according to the Public Health Directorate, a stage included in the draft plan and last year’s recommendations, which is when the advice to use masks for health workers, patients and family members anywhere in hospitals or health centers is activated.
The flu has now reached epidemic level due to a backlog of cases. “The curve is rising,” he admitted. “What we want is to avoid reaching the level of 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants as happened last year after we could not get the protocol. We had a health impact of 3,300 deaths due to respiratory viruses (1,800 due to influenza). Avoiding this is what the protocol is about.”
In addition to moving forward in the calendar this year, infections are coming with a greater presence of its type A, which also indicates greater pressure on health services because it is a stronger strain. The first arrival of the 2025 seasonal influenza pandemic has already been certified in other countries such as Japan.