MadridThe coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech arrives this weekend in Spain and the regional governments are finalizing preparations so that the first doses can be administered to people living in care homes on Sunday. This Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, has presided over the Interterritorial Health Council and has explained that the first vaccine will be administered in Guadalajara, in Castilla-La Mancha, where the first delivery from Brussels will be received. From Monday, an average of 352,000 doses will arrive weekly, reaching a total of 4,591,235 by the end of March. This would make it possible, Illa announced, to have vaccinated 2,295,638 people over the next twelve weeks.
Illa has not wanted to advance how many people will receive the vaccine already on Sunday because it depends on how the preparations are finalized in each autonomous community. The different territories have been organizing the logistics for days and in the vast majority vaccinations will begin already this Sunday. In Catalonia, it is expected that in ten days the vaccination process can be completed for all people in care homes, both users and workers, as explained to TV3 on Tuesday by the general subdirector of Health Promotion, Carmen Cabezas.
In the Balearic Islands, it is expected that on Sunday between 500 and 1,000 people can be vaccinated, and the Valencian Country will start with 800 people from seven homes. From Monday onwards, 30,000 more doses will arrive and vaccinations will be done on a weekly basis. In fact, Illa already explained last Friday that every week new consignments will be distributed to the autonomous communities. Although Guadalajara will receive the first consignment this Saturday, afterwards the communities will already receive them in their designated places. The minister has said that each regional government knows how many doses it will receive throughout this quarter.
Waiting for the Moderna vaccine
With Illa's figures, Pfizer's vaccine doses would not be enough to reach the estimated 2.5 million people of the four priority groups of the vaccination strategy. After care homes' residents and workers, it is expected that the remaining health personnel and non-institutionalized dependent people will be administered the vaccine during the first quarter of 2021. Each person must receive two doses, and it is recommended that twenty days pass between the first and second doses.
At a press conference held at the Moncloa, Illa expressed confidence that on 6 January the European Medicines Agency will authorise the project developed by Moderna and that it can increase the number of doses that reach the State. The European Union has bought 80 million units, eight of which would correspond to Spain, the minister explained. In this way, it would be possible to meet the objective set out in the vaccination strategy. In Catalonia, 900,000 doses are expected over the next three months, as Cabezas explained.
Illa has taken advantage of this pre-Christmas appearance to once again express his "concern" about the evolution of contagion, which already stands at a cumulative incidence of 253.24 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days on average in Spain. The minister has endorsed the restrictions that the autonomous communities are applying in recent days to limit mobility and group gatherings during the holidays.
Madrid discards new hospital for keeping the vaccine
Finally, the Community of Madrid has ruled out the new Infermera Isabel Zendal pandemic hospital as a place to store the covid vaccine. This has been confirmed by the General Director of Health of the Community of Madrid, Elena Andradas, this Wednesday afternoon in response to questions from the media. Thus, the proposal that the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, made at the beginning of November when she made the hospital available to the Spanish government and the autonomous communities as a warehouse for the vaccine, falls. At that time, the regional government argued that the location of the hospital near Barajas airport "was privileged" and "optimal".
The region has contracted through an "emergency" procedure a private company to manage the logistics of the covid-19 vaccine. "This is the way to ensure storage and distribution. It is the most convenient model to do this", Andradas said. Madrid will receive 1,200 doses on Sunday and will begin administering them the same day. The region expects to receive 48,750 vaccines every Monday, according to Madrid's deputy health minister, Antonio Zapatero.
