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Spain rules out the AstraZeneca vaccine at least for those over 80 years of age

2021-02-03T18:43:59.962Z


Spain will receive 1.8 million vaccines from AstraZeneca this month and 2.7 million from Pfizer in March, as explained this Wednesday by the Minister of Health


The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, during a press conference on January 28. Kiko Huesca / EFE

The vaccine delivery schedule is full of mysteries.

Confidentiality in contracts hides information that the public is learning with a dropper.

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, revealed this Wednesday how many doses of AstraZeneca will arrive in Spain in February: it will be 1.8 million.

He has also announced how many of Pfizer are scheduled for March: 2.7 million.

With these forecasts, the minister has predicted that it is possible to achieve the objective that Spain (and the European Union) have set: to vaccinate 80% of the population over 80 years of age before the end of March.

Messenger RNA vaccines (those from Pfizer and Moderna) will be used for them, as decided on Wednesday by the Public Health Commission of the Interterritorial Health System.

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What is not yet known is whether the AstraZeneca vaccine will be given to people over 65 years of age.

The Public Health commission, which has dealt with the issue on Wednesday, has postponed the decision to Thursday.

At least seven European countries have decided that they will only apply this drug to those under that age, since there is not enough evidence of efficacy for those who exceed it.

Despite this, the United Kingdom is prodding the elderly with this vaccine as tests do show that they generate antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

It is foreseeable that Spain will make the same decision as countries such as France, Italy or Germany, as Fernando Simón, director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), pointed out on Monday: “It is possible that in the European Union we have to the recommendation that Germany is making [the first country that announced that it would reserve it for children under 65], it is prudent, but in order to decide it, the paper has to analyze the technical data sheet of the vaccine ".

At Thursday's meeting of the Public Health commission the experts will likely add a new priority group to the vaccination plan.

After phase 1 (residences, health care and large dependents) it is the turn of those over 80. But before it begins in this group, AstraZeneca vaccines will have predictably arrived, which will not be applied in this age group, as has advance the minister.

Most likely they will be aimed at younger people with pathologies that make them vulnerable to the coronavirus (as will France or the Netherlands) or essential workers.

They can also start with this drug to immunize health workers who have not yet received any doses.

The changes in the vaccination program were planned, since it will have to adapt to the characteristics of the vaccines that are approved.

“It is a living document”, Darias has emphasized.

The minister has assured that the vaccination plan is going at the expected rate.

In this first trimester the dose, as it was known, would be very limited.

As he has answered questions from journalists, Health is collecting data on what proportion of each group in the first phase is already vaccinated.

He has advanced that they have already finished "a good percentage of the residencies", but not all, since in some of them the inoculations have had to be postponed due to active outbreaks.

There is also "a good group" of toilets who have received the puncture.

Once you finish with them, you will start with the large dependents.

The forecast is to do it in the middle of this month.

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

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2021-02-03

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