HEALTHPLAN MAGAZINE

Many Brits living in Spain are still wanting clarity regarding the vaccinations campaign in Spain.

The English edition of El Pais states that they contacted the British Embassy requesting clarification and advice for UK nationals as the campaign progresses.

A spokesperson from the Embassy said: “The Spanish Government’s Vaccination Strategy is clear that, as a matter of public health, all people living in Spain are eligible for the vaccine, regardless of nationality or residency status. At the current time, those in the priority groups are being vaccinated – irrespective of nationality or type of sickness insurance. The Vaccination Strategy is updated regularly to include new priority groups as the number of doses available gradually increases.

“Those UK nationals who are already registered in the public health system should be contacted by their regional health service to arrange an appointment. The Spanish authorities are asking insurance companies to coordinate with regional health services in order to provide vaccines to their customers. We are in touch with the Spanish authorities regarding progress of the rollout and what that means for UK nationals. Meanwhile UK Nationals living in Spain can contact their local health centre for more information.”

While around a million vaccines a week are arriving in Spain, all pharmaceutical companies are preparing to increase their delivery next month.

Currently, the vaccines being administered throughout Spain are the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, all of which require people to have two vaccines to achieve full protection.

However, in April another vaccination is likely to be added to the list, one that is made by Janssen, a company that belongs to Johnson and Johnson. This was due to be approved for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on March 11.

The Janssen vaccine differs from the other three, as it only requires a single dose to offer full protection against the Covid-19 virus. This means that double the amount of people can be immunised, with the same number of inoculations as the other three vaccines used so far in Spain’s vaccine campaign.

Speaking on the Cadena SER radio network on March 8, Health Minister Carolina Darias said that “4.8 million doses from Janssen are due to arrive in Spain in April.”

So far Spain has administered more than 4.6 million doses, that is 83.4% of the vaccinations it has received. And assuming there are no foreseen circumstances, the government's target of vaccinating 70% of the adult population during the summer seems to be possible. The number of doses will be available, but it all comes down to whether the country’s health system is capable of administering them quickly enough.

Last week the European Commission revealed that it is hoping to distribute 300 million doses between April and June, this is, however, 20% less than planned. Spain is still due to receive 30 million doses, which equates to 2.3 million doses a week - more than enough to reach the target.

Brussels was anticipating receiving 300 million doses of the authorised Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, plus a further 80 million of the Janssen. Taking the total to 380 million.

The approval of two further vaccines from Novavax and CureVac is also anticipated over the coming months.

You can learn more about Spain's vaccination program at the official site.

Source
https://english.elpais.com/society/2021-03-15/covid-19-vaccines-for-uk-nationals-in-spain-what-the-british-embassy-says.html

Image Credit: Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa