'State of Alarm' to end on May 9 and vaccine efforts to 'multiply' in next three months

PRESIDENT Pedro Sánchez has announced plans to end the 'State of Alarm' on May 9 this year and has given a deadline of the end of August for 70% of Spain's population to be vaccinated with both doses of the anti-Covid immunisation.

And this is the government's 'most conservative estimate' of how the situation will progress, hinting that improvements may even happen earlier.

National health authorities' goal is for 10 million people to have been immunised by the first week in June and 15 million, which would be around a third of the country's headcount, by the second week of that month.

By the week beginning July 19, as many as 25 million could be fully vaccinated, a figure expected to rise to 33 million, or seven in 10 residents, by the time summer ends.

Earlier, by the week beginning May 3, Sánchez (pictured) estimates Spain will have broken the five-million barrier.

The recent rubber-stamping of the Janssen vaccine, due to arrive in Spain after next week, is hoped to accelerate the roll-out, given that this new formula only requires one dose rather than two.

Spain has signed deals to receive a total of 87 doses of the four different vaccine formulae – three of which need a double dose – between April and September.

From April to June, the country will receive 3.5 times as many doses as it did in the preceding three months, including 5.7 million single-dose Janssen vaccines before July.

Meanwhile, another formula developed in Germany, the CureVac, is due to be signed off for release in the next few weeks.

Current figures suggest that more people will have been fully vaccinated by the middle of April than the number of people infected with Covid-19, for the first time ever.

It remains unclear whether a person who has been inoculated can still catch the virus and pass it on – recent cases of 'outbreaks' in nursing homes in Spain have, reportedly, been asymptomatic in all those who have been immunised, even though, by definition, theirs is an age group where contracting Covid would normally be dangerous and potentially fatal.

This seems to show that a person who has been vaccinated can still catch the disease, but their immune system prevents the virus from causing them any harm.

Scientists are still trying to ascertain whether these cases can cause contagion to others in contact with them, although the creators of the Pfizer vaccine have recently said those who have received both doses 'do not infect anyone else'.

Sánchez says vaccination is 'the most efficient economic policy', since it will allow the country to reopen and return to business as usual, and that the difference the roll-out has already made is starting to show in an upturn in the economy and employment figures.

In terms of vaccine administration – the actual percentage of available doses already administered – Spain is 'near the top within the European Union', Sánchez says.

Concerning the 'State of Alarm', Sánchez says he has 'no plans' to extend it beyond its initial deadline of May 9.

It was first declared on March 14, 2020, then lifted towards the end of the spring as contagion rates showed a drastic improvement, but with the onset of autumn, a sudden spike which is being referred to as the 'third wave' meant numbers of positives and mortality figures rose to several times the level seen in the early part of last year when the entire country was in full lockdown, only permitted to leave the house for 'essential errands' such as supermarket shopping, and alone, and required to return home immediately.

This drastic worsening of the pandemic, in Spain and in almost every other country on earth, led Sánchez's government to declare another 'State of Alarm' in the autumn.

But instead of continually reviewing and renewing it as it had done in the spring, the government opted to set it to run right through until May, since it was the only legal instrument it had available to allow them to call immediate blanket restrictions if needed.

The fact that this legal instrument will not be extended beyond May 9 strongly hints the government does not feel it will have to impose any restrictions after that date.

At present, restrictions remain in place, albeit 'lockdown' has not been part of Spain's collective vocabulary for nearly a year – the limitations involve a curfew between midnight and 05.00, which regional governments can extend up to two hours in either direction if they wish, plus a compulsory reduction in numbers of people on premises such as in shops, and even in outside areas such as bar and restaurant terraces.

Within this framework, each regional government has set its own rules according to official contagion figures – in some, bars and restaurants have only just reopened after a long shutdown, and a set closing time, typically anywhere from 18.00 to 21.00, applies, with many regions having banned smoking on outside terraces.

Smoking in indoor public places has been outlawed in Spain since the first day of 2011.

Masks must still be worn everywhere outside the home, including in the open air and even where social distancing is possible, with no exceptions permitted except for when taking part in strenuous, active sports such as running or cycling.