EARLY details of a vaccination plan have been revealed and more information will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, November 24) – but Spain's president Pedro Sánchez says the strategy will be the same for the whole country and will not vary by region.
Spain and Germany will be the first two countries to present a 'complete' vaccination plan, although inoculations will not be compulsory by law as no legal instrument exists to require the whole population to receive one.
About 10% of all the vaccine doses the European Union is set to receive will go to Spain, where 13,000 'vaccine points' will be set up nationwide.
Sánchez has promised 'fair and equal access' to the inoculation, and will 'guarantee' that 'priority' groups will all be able to have it.
This means anyone with chronic physical health problems that would make catching SARS-CoV-2 even more of a serious risk, plus anyone aged 65 and over, medical workers, care staff and others who are constantly and necessarily facing far greater chances of contagion or for whom the viral load would be much higher – such as nurses exposed to Covid-19 patients.
A registration system will be set up to monitor all those who 'freely decide' to be inoculated.
An additional 10,000 vacancies for healthcare professionals will be created over the next few months to ensure the medical service can keep on top of vaccination needs.
Meanwhile, Sánchez says the government is working on plans for a 'safe' Christmas, to 'prevent a third wave in January'.
“This year, we'll have to stay at a distance from our loved ones instead of hugs and kisses,” he warns, but there is no suggestion that families or friend groups will be kept apart over the festive season.
Although contagion continues to be high, Spain's current incidence is 'below 400 per 100,000 inhabitants', or less than 0.4% of the population; earlier in the autumn, when restrictions were applied by individual towns, the criteria was set at 500 or more per 100,000 (0.5%-plus).
The 0.4% of inhabitants in the last 14 days is an improvement, Sánchez assures, and is the best figure seen so far since the end of October.
His government's aim of fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (0.025%) is 'a long way off', the president says, but believes that the precautions taken by the regional governments – largely involving regions shutting their borders and not allowing anyone from outside in without a sound reason, such as for work – are paying off.
Sánchez has not confirmed which of the vaccines under 'construction' will reach Spain first – the Moderna and Pfizer ones are expected to hit the shelves shortly, and the AstraZeneca or 'Oxford vaccine' is likely to be hot on their heels – but believes the Pfizer version will probably be the earliest.
Its creators – a Turkish couple born in Germany, where the Pfizer laboratory is based – originally decided to err on the side of caution and said their inoculation had a 90% effectiveness level, but after Moderna cited its own at 94.5% using the same techniques, Pfizer reviewed its claims and said it would be 95% successful.
Pfizer jabs need to be kept at an extremely low temperature, whereas the Moderna injection can survive for 30 days at that of a household fridge, or between 2ºC and 8ºC – this is the former's main drawback worldwide, since not every country has the facilities for storage, but is not expected to be a problem for Spain.
Distribution will, however, be the responsibility of the European Commission, based upon percentage of the population in each of the 27 European Union member States.
Although the earliest recipients of the vaccine in Spain will be the most vulnerable and at-risk members of society, the idea is for, eventually, the entire population to be inoculated, even those whose probabilities of catching SARS-CoV-2 are practically nil.
But the very low-risk and those with the lowest potential exposure will be at the back of the queue.
If all goes according to plan, it is hoped that everyone will have been immunised by next summer.
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