Snow and ice will not hold up vaccine delivery or administration, assures government

SUB-ZERO temperatures and never-seen-before snowfall in Madrid will not hold up Covid vaccine delivery or administration, Spain's government assures – in fact, this week, the country has already received another 350,000 doses from Pfizer.

Despite orders from health minister Salvador Illa for medical staff to administer all the vaccines they have available, they have opted not to do so, as they want to ensure everyone who has already been immunised will be guaranteed their second dose within the World Health Organisation's recommended time frame, given that it may still be possible to catch the virus before having the booster.

Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport, the main inter-continental gateway to the country, is now at least partially operating after it was closed due to snow and ice, and a plane has now landed stocked up with more Pfizer deliveries, reveals transport minister José Luis Ábalos. 

He and interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska are in 'constant contact' with pharmaceutical companies abroad to ensure the flow of vaccine parcels continues to arrive within the previously allotted times, so that there will be no interruptions in scheduled inoculations.

To prevent 'Storm Filomena' – as the latest cold snap is called – holding up the vaccine programme, goods lorries grounded in service stations are gradually being freed so they can continue distributing the drugs.

Guided convoys are helping them through the snow, along with other drivers trapped, to avoid any shortage of medicines in general and food supplies – to this end, those affected have been urged not to stockpile, as it merely deprives later supermarket customers of goods, or choice of goods.

The snow and ice affects the whole of the Greater Madrid region, much of Aragón and large swathes of parts of the country level with or north of these areas, as well as inland parts further south at high altitudes, although southern and eastern coastal areas have not encountered frosts or snowfall.

Here, flights are still running, albeit in limited numbers, merely to ensure trapped travellers, essential workers and anyone else with a real need to get about by air can still fly.

Anyone travelling into Spain by air, provided they are legally resident or a Spanish national, is guaranteed entry to the country with a negative Covid test result, and the Spanish embassy in London has announced it is aware of isolated cases of previous problems and that these have been resolved.

Residence documents and Covid results are checked before each Spain-bound passenger boards, meaning everyone on board a flight to the country will have been tested and found negative a maximum of 72 hours before their arrival.

This reassures anyone flying to Spain that everyone they come into contact with airside, in security queues and on their plane will have been tested, reducing some of the worry that would otherwise add to the usual stress of travel.

Main roads and runways in southern and eastern coastal areas are clear of ice and snow, and public transport is operating as usual.