Spain advances with the second doses of the vaccine despite the cut in the shipment of Pfizer

Spain begins to complete the vaccination of the first immunized.

Eight communities have begun to administer the second dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech drug this Sunday to the elderly and nursing home staff who received the first dose on December 27.

Furthermore, the immunization of the second group, which is health personnel, continues.

The vaccination strategy also includes the first batch (35,700 doses) of Moderna's drug, which also requires two injections per person.

Of the 1,139,400 vaccines delivered, more than 67.5% have already been administered.

According to the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, the campaign is acquiring "a cruising speed" and ensures that the vaccination rate will not decline despite the cut in the shipment of the new Pfizer consignment this week (only 56% of the predicted doses).

• En English: Spain begins administering second dose of Covid vaccine despite delivery cuts

• Health will give priority to the communities that have given the most vaccines in the face of cut shipments from Pfizer

• Communities vaccinate as much in one day as in the entire first week

“This vaccination strategy works.

Spain is the ninth country in the world in vaccination.

Almost 70% of the doses supplied have already been administered to citizens of our country.

The pace is optimal ”, praised Illa this weekend.

The objective, he insisted, is for 70% of the Spanish population to be vaccinated this summer.

And although speed has improved, you still have to step on the gas in vaccinations if you want to meet the schedule.

Especially if there are unforeseen events like the last one with Pfizer, which announced on Friday that the shipment of vaccines this week will be less because it has to make adjustments in its production plant to increase supply capacity in the coming weeks.

"Setting time horizons when there are variables that one does not control seems quite difficult to me", has warned Amós García Rojas, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination.

The expert points out that "the organizational problems that exist must be solved" to improve the rate of vaccination in some communities if the objective indicated by the ministry is to be achieved.

“Ideally, with a fluid vaccine supply and roundly assessing slow-paced communities to see where the bottlenecks are, it could be done.

But with the rhythms that some communities are giving, it is complicated ”, points out García Rojas.

Illa insisted that the normal supply will be restored during the week of January 25 (370,000 vaccines per week) and this quarter the planned doses will be received, but this contingency has already forced the ministry to modify the criteria for delivery to the communities: in addition to distribute the doses equitably according to the distribution of the vaccination groups of the first stage (elderly and nursing home staff, health workers and large dependents), the vaccination rhythm in the first week will also be taken into account to guarantee the supply of the second dose to all those who received the first on those dates.

This week marks 21 days of the first doses administered and it is time to complete the vaccination cycles with another injection so that, in seven days, these people are already fully immunized - the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine, like that of Moderna, is situated about 95% -.

The Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Galicia, Madrid and the Basque Country, in fact, have started this Sunday.

Delaying the second doses can cause the medication to lose efficacy, so, given the lack of planned supply, it is time to prioritize these groups.

Although this will cause a slowdown in vaccination with the first dose of other groups underway, such as health workers.

“You drop all the planning.

In our hospital, since Thursday we have stopped vaccinating health workers and the second doses will be prioritized.

The problem is that we assume that everything is information and forecasts of the company, but for sure we do not know if everything is going to arrive as they say ”, laments Magda Campins, head of preventive medicine at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona.

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