Vaccination in Spain will start on December 27

Vaccination in Spain already has a date: Sunday, December 27.

This was announced this Friday by the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, who has assured that it will begin at the same time in all the autonomous communities, to which doses will begin to arrive on Saturday 26. “We do not want to wait even a single day.

It is the beginning of the end and we want this beginning to begin as soon as possible, ”said Illa.

En español

• Spain's coronavirus vaccine drive set to start on December 27

The minister has not clarified how many doses will reach Spain, nor therefore, how many correspond to each community.

In his appearance to announce the date, he has limited himself to repeating that the distribution will be equitable in each autonomy.

Ministry sources explain that the criterion will not be the total population, but the one that is in the first group to be vaccinated: people who live in social health centers and their workers.

That is, a community that has fewer inhabitants than another, but more people in residences will receive more doses.

This is to ensure that everyone can vaccinate with the established criteria.

The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, upon arrival at a press conference held by telematic means from the Moncloa complex, this Friday.

In video, his statements EFE / Rodrigo Jiménez / VIDEO: QUALITY

Illa has taken for granted that on December 21 the European Medicines Agency will approve the marketing of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, which the European Commission plans to validate about 48 hours later.

Spain has committed 20.8 million doses of this drug, which serve to immunize 10.4 million people, since it requires a double injection, although they will be received progressively.

Pfizer's vaccine will arrive in 5,000-dose self-cooling boxes that keep them at a temperature below the 70 degrees below zero they need for conservation.

They can stay in them for 10 days without additional refrigeration.

From there, once defrosted, they last 120 hours (another five days) at a conventional refrigerator temperature, between two and eight degrees Celsius.

The autonomies will have to thaw and administer them, or in the event that they reach a speed higher than that which can be vaccinated, keep them in ultra-cold refrigerators, which can preserve their properties for six more months.

As the vaccines will arrive gradually, in principle they should not need these deposits.

Citizens who are to be vaccinated will be summoned, either in the residences where they live or in health centers.

The autonomous communities, which will be in charge of this, point out that the vaccination will be very similar to that of the flu and that similar steps will be followed.

Christmas restrictions

The minister has also referred to the Christmas restrictions and has welcomed the communities that are hardening them, as Catalonia, Castilla y León and Madrid announced that same Friday, or as they did throughout the week Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the Valencian Community.

The minister has defended the plan for Christmas that was approved last December 2 in the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, which communities can modulate according to their epidemiological situation.

“There is no single reality, in each territory it is different.

We must react to the reality of the change in trend according to the strategy we are applying ”, said Illa, who has called for“ increasing prudence ”and following the measures imposed in each autonomous community, which“ are appropriate ”to your situation.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- Restrictions search engine: What can I do in my municipality?

- This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in the world

- Download the tracking application for Spain

- Guide to action against the disease