96-year-old Araceli gets first coronavirus vaccine in Spain

Araceli Rosario Hidalgo, 96, a resident at the Los Olmos care home in Guadalajara, has become the first person to receive the vaccine against Covid-19 in Spain. “Let's see if we can get rid of this virus for good”, she said, minutes after being vaccinated on Sunday morning. 

Approximately 60 of the 70 elderly residents of the state-run care home received the first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine over the course of the day.

Spain's biggest ever vaccination campaign kicked off at 9:05 on Sunday morning with Araceli, one of the care home's most active and independent residents first in the queue. Although very happy in the care home, with plenty of activities like crochet and gym to keep her occupied, Araceli also admitted to missing her family - two children, four children and a grandchild - whom she hasn't seen "for months, because they all live in Madrid." She told waiting journalists that she felt it was "very important" to get vaccinated, and that she couldn't wait to see her family.

Next up after Araceli was 48-year-old Mónica Tapias, one of the centre's care workers, who hasn't been able to see her own parents (aged 73 and 79) since March. "The only thing I want is for all this to be over," she said, "and to be able to give them a kiss. I miss them, I miss being close to them, being able to hug them. I just want things to be back to normal." 

“We have all had a really hard time of it because nobody was allowed in here, and residents have died alone, whether they had Covid or not”, she continued. “It was sad. We have residents whose children used to come to see them every day, then all of a sudden they weren't allowed in. We were here for them, but it's not the same”, she added. “I have worked here for ten years and the residents are like my second family. I spend more time here than at home. They care about us and we really care about them”, she went on. 

The head of Los Olmos care home confirmed that neither of the first two women to receive the vaccine had had Covid-19. Two residents of the home died from the virus during the first wave, but there have been no cases there since June. “We are seeing the beginning of the end," she said, relieved. "Old people's homes have been the hardest hit of all by the pandemic." 

Spain's president, Pedro Sánchez, celebrated the country's first vaccines on his Twitter account, writing: “Today Araceli & Mónica represent a new, more hopeful phase. It is an exciting day," adding the hashtag #YoMeVacuno (#IGotVaccinated), as did the Health Minister, Salvador Illa, in his own social media message: “Araceli and Mónica are the first two people to be vaccinated in Spain. By doing so they send out a message of hope to the rest of the world as we take a step towards immunisation. This is the beginning of the end of the pandemic”. The minister repeated the same message in a later press conference, but again called for people to "remain cautious" because the number of people still being infected is “worrying”.

Each autonomous community will now receive weekly deliveries of their allotted doses of the vaccine, in relation to the number of inhabitants in the first group - elderly people in care homes, their care workers, healthcare professionals, and those dependent on home carers. In total, it is hoped that almost 2.3 million people will be vaccinated before spring.