More than half of Spain's teens have had first vaccine dose a fortnight before school starts

OVER half of all secondary school-aged students have now had at least their first dose of the Covid vaccine, with two weeks to go before the new term starts.

According to national health authorities, a total of 55.4% of the country's population aged between 12 and 19 – irrespective of whether they are still at school or college in the case of the upper end of this range – have had one or both doses, and just under 13% are fully immunised.

Also, practically all their teachers will now have had their full quota of vaccine doses – even the youngest, since they would have been among the key workers summoned for their jab much earlier in the year.

The last region to start Moderna vaccines – an ARN-messenger version, like the Pfizer – for children aged 12 and 13 is Galicia.

Those summoned must have an 'informed consent' form signed by a parent or legal guardian, as they are underage, and those who are not yet 12 will be shelved until their next birthday.

As yet, neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna jabs have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for children under 12, due to a hitherto lack of sufficient evidence concerning their safety and effectiveness.

All other regions besides Galicia had already started giving appointments for teens to get their jab – in fact, many have already fully vaccinated between one and two in five.

The Balearic Islands leads the field, with 41% of its 12-19 age group having had both jabs, followed by the cities of Ceuta and Melilla – across the water on the Moroccan coast – at 32.5% and 33.4% respectively.

Aragón has double-jabbed 22.2% of its teenagers, and Catalunya, 21.6%.

In Murcia, 66% of the population aged 12 to 19 has had at least their first dose – the best record so far in the country, followed by the Canary Islands, with 65.4%, and the Balearic Islands, at 64.3%.

The overall aim was for at least 70% of the country's secondary school, college, university and sixth-form students to have had their first dose, if not both, by the start of the new term in September, and it was originally announced that those aged 12 to 19 would start having their jabs a fortnight before they returned to class.

But with still a fortnight to go, over half are already in this situation and more than one in 10 are now fully inoculated.