ARCHIVED - Catalunya diverts AstraZeneca vaccines to police officers and firefighters

The Catalan government defies the Ministry of Health to decide its own vaccination strategy

There are considerable differences of opinion among the national and regional governments in Spain over which groups of the population should be prioritized in the administration of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines which are now becoming available in this country, and in Catalunya, as is so often the case, the regional authorities are in open disagreement with the central government in Madrid.

Spain’s Ministry of Public Health has established that the first 196,800 AstraZeneca doses which are now being distributed among regional health services should be administered to “active health and social health professionals who were not previously included in groups 2 and 3” of the immunization campaign. At the same time a cautious approach has been adopted with the decision to limit the administration of the AstraZeneca product to those aged between 18 and 55.

But the regional government of Catalunya has decided to extend this phase of the vaccination campaign to include others who by the nature of their work are in constant contact with members of the public, including officers of the Mossos d’Esquadra (the regional police force of Catalunya), firefighters and prison officers. These groups are considered to form part of the “essential services” by the Spanish government but at a national level no orders have been given for the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil to be prioritized as yet.

Alba Vergès, the minister for Health in the Catalan government, reiterated on Monday that the intention in the region is for doses to be administered “immediately” to health sector workers such as chemists and physiotherapists as well as the forces of law and order and emergency staff.