Spain’s COVID-19 vaccine given to care homes ‘first’

Care homes, front-line health workers and healthcare providers will be given priority in Spain’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Care home residents have made up 53% of Spain’s COVID-19 fatalities – that’s 23,131 deaths from a total of over 43,000.

A whopping 50,000 front-line health workers also tested COVID-19 positive by PCR in the pandemic’s first wave – that’s more than Italy and France’s 30,000 infected and Germany’s 15,000.

Current estimates say more than 83,000 workers across Spain’s hospitals have caught coronavirus, according to Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE.

The elderly have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus has claimed a 10% lethality rate in over-80s for cases diagnosed since 10th May (according to data from Spain’s leading health research centre, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III).

The lethality rates are as follows:

• 80+ (10.4%)
• 70-79 (3.2%)
• 60-69 (0.9%)
• 50-59 (0.2%)
• 40-49 (0.1%)
• 0-39 (0.0%)

Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa said ‘the most vulnerable’ would be made a priority. (See video below.)

He added the vaccine will be available free of charge at 13,000 administration points in public healthcare centres across Spain – it will be free and optional.

📹@salvadorilla ha anunciado que residentes, personal sanitario y sociosanitario en residencias de personas mayores y con discapacidad serán los primeros grupos que se vacunarán frente a la #COVID19.

📄https://t.co/hGk1Sb5ayM#VacunaCOVID19 #YoMeVacuno pic.twitter.com/E7HgdOzZxM

— Ministerio de Sanidad (@sanidadgob) November 24, 2020

Health authorities are expecting the first doses to arrive in January, after the Spanish medicines regulatory agency, (AEMPS), authorises the vaccines.

A fourth group to get vaccinated will include people with disabilities who require significant support measures, but are not in care homes.

Around 2.5 million people out of a total population of 47 million are expected to be vaccinated between January and March, if the government’s estimate prove to be accurate.

The second period would last until to June and probably target at-risk groups such as older adults and people with underlying conditions.

Following agreements between the European Union and six pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen, BioNTech-Pfizer, CureVac and Moderna), Spain is expected to receive 140 million doses of coronavirus vaccines.

It comes as 43.8% of Spaniards said they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.

BayRadio also created its own online poll, currently showing that 64% of BayRadio listeners would take a vaccine.

Take part in the poll here.

Written by BayRadio