Covid: Spain hits July vaccinated target. Jab success as 25m people immunised

SPAIN’S vaccination rollout has met its July target of having 25 million people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 – 53% of the country’s population now enjoys protection.

The government’s health ministry confirmed the programme remained on track as Spain is in the midst of a fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic with cases on the rise and a cumulative incidence of 659 cases per 100,000 people.

The thrust of the vaccination strategy is now aimed at the younger population as well as attempting to locate older – and more vulnerable – people who may have missed their shots.

To date health experts say the population is willing to accept being vaccinated but still to be immunised is the younger age groups and the most socially active – where most infections are now taking place.

Salvador Peiró, an epidemiologist from the Fisabio foundation for health research in Valencia, said the vaccination programme was proceeding “at a good speed”.

However, he said it was important to immunise younger groups.

“Vaccinating these groups will work. But the vaccines we administer now will not offer sufficient protection until five weeks have passed – and even less so with the more infectious delta variant circulating, for which the first dose offers less protection. This wave needs to be controlled with the classic approach: measures that reduce contacts.”

Regions across Spain continue to impose health restrictions designed to reduce social contact and reduce infection rates; in many cases supported by the courts.

Written by BayRadio