ARCHIVED - 14.5 million people in Spain have received at least one Covid vaccine dose
14.2 per cent of the population are now fully vaccinated against coronavirus
30.7 per cent have received at least the first vaccine dose
As the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in Spain continues to make rapid progress the latest Ministry of Health update reports that a further 448,000 doses were administered on Wednesday, taking the total since late December to over 21 million.
The number of people to have received both jabs (or the single-dose Janssen product) now stands at 6,716,156, equivalent to 14.2 per cent of the population, while the proportion of inhabitants to have received at least their first dose has climbed to 30.7 per cent (just over 14.55 million) as the campaign spreads to more and more people in their 50s and 60s. The rate of vaccination over the last ten days makes it increasingly reasonable to deduce that by late August Spain may have achieved something resembling herd immunity, with 70 per cent of the population immunized against coronavirus.
However, there are still noticeable discrepancies in the rate of inoculation from region to region. Taking into account only the population aged over 16 (who are currently scheduled to be vaccinated) the proportion to have received at least one dose ranges from 45 per cent in Asturias to just 30.1 per cent in the Balearics, and similar discrepancies can be observed in the different age groups.
For example, while in Spain as a whole 43.9 per cent of those aged 60 or over have received both doses of the vaccines (or the single-dose Janssen drug), among the regions the equivalent proportions range from 51.3 per cent in Galicia to 38 per cent in the Basque Country. On the other hand, in the 70-79 age group the Basque Country is progressing faster than many other regions with a 95.8 per cent vaccination rate (for at least one dose) as opposed to 94.1 per cent nationwide, although in the same tranche of the population the rate of 100 per cent in Cantabria stands out.
Given the rate at which the rollout is now taking place these regional differences will no doubt be ironed out over the next few weeks, and the next major target is for the number of people who are fully immunized to be raised to 10 million by the first week of June.