ARCHIVED - Vaccination rate picks up in Spain as more than a million vaccines arrive
Altogether 2,505,842 members of the public in Spain had received both doses of vaccine by the end of last week.
A total of 1,066,350 doses of coronavirus vaccines, 672,750 by Pfizer/BioNTech and 393,600 from Moderna, are being distributed to the Spanish regions on Monday (29 March), the Health Ministry has reported.
The rate at which vaccines are being distributed and administered is at last picking up, allowing the authorities to hope that they will indeed manage to hit the target of inoculating 70 per cent of the population, some 33 million citizens, by the end of the summer.
Moreover, Health Minister Carolina Darias has said that she is confident that all over-80s in Spain will have had their vaccinations within another fortnight.
Not only have more doses of the vaccines currently being administered to the elderly been delivered, but as the authorities have now authorized the drug by AstraZeneca for use in those aged up to 65, health centres in some regions have started to contact those who will be 65 this year with their appointments (the image is from Andalucía where the first patients from non-essential groups have been contacted today with appointments. In other regions, such as Murcia, the over 80’s are still being vaccinated and the health service hopes to start on the over 70s by the end of April). This means that more than one age group at a time can now be vaccinated, thus speeding up the process. Once the first single-dose vaccines by Janssen start to arrive, which is expected to happen as of 15 April, the rate should pick up even more.
At the end of last week, a total of 7,067,371 doses of coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Spain, and 2,505,842 patients had received both doses. On Sunday, the Madrid region hit the milestone of one million doses administered, while Andalusia was leading the way having administered 1,378,743.
At a worldwide level, 540 million doses have been administered, three-quarters of them in the ten richest countries in the world while the poorer nations are trailing behind, according to WHO.
The increase in vaccination rate comes at a time when infection rates are also on the up in many areas of Spain, with many now believing that despite restrictions on movement there will be no avoiding a fourth wave of the virus following the Easter holidays.
Altogether there had been 3,255,324 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country on Friday (26 March), and 75,010 patients who had tested positive had lost their lives, according to official figures from the Spanish Health Ministry.