Spain Close To Vaccinating 70 Per Cent Of Population Against COVID-19
Health News
Published: 09 August 2021 15:39 CET
Spain is now close to having 70 per cent of the population vaccinated against Coronavirus.
Back in April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez gave a press briefing at Moncloa Palace reporting on the development of the country's vaccination plans. He stressed the importance of the vaccination campaign in conquering the Covid virus ‘once and for all’ allowing the country to return to normality once again.
“This is the largest global vaccination campaign ever. And the same can be said of our country: we are at the start of the largest vaccination campaign in Spain’s history, which is being undertaken with an unprecedented effort,” emphasised Mr Sánchez.
During his speech, the Spanish Prime Minister called for everyone to join forces in the immunisation operation and declared that “the speed and efficacy of vaccinations is the main concern of the Government of Spain at this time”.
“Let me spell this out clearly: we must take a step forward. The time has come to vaccinate and keep vaccinating because mass vaccination will be the quickest way to reactivate our country and our economy. This time has come to tirelessly vaccinate."
So far almost 60 per cent of the Spanish population have now received both doses of the vaccine, giving them full protection.
The country was expecting a new delivery yesterday, August 8, of 1.1 of the 3.4 million additional vaccines that were ordered, with plans for them to be administered throughout the month of August.
These figures will see the 70% vaccination target reached before the end of the month. The initial figure that was believed to be needed for herd immunity, but is now being revised.
This is because of the growing rate of the delta variant of the virus, which has a higher contagion rate.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), has already spoken out saying that greater coverage is needed to help slow the spread of this new variant.
By Friday, August 6, Spain had completed the vaccination schedule of having vaccinated 28,255,949 people. That is 59.5 per cent of the Spanish population.
Several communities have already exceeded the 70 per cent target, they include Asturias with 74.7% of people vaccinated, Aragon with 70.7%, Basque Country with 71%, Castilla y Leon with 70.4%, Extremadura with 73.5%, Galicia with 72.4% and Navarra with 70.3%.
As well as the high percentage of fully vaccinated people, a massive 33,141,450 people across the country have now received at least one dose of the vaccine. This equates to 69.8 per cent of the Spanish population.
The additional doses delivered will help to accelerate the vaccination campaign for the younger age groups, which continue to record the highest infection rates.
Data from August 6, showed that the rate of infections in the 12 to 19 year age group total 1,315, while the rates in the 20 to 29 year age group stand at 1,332. This is double the national average.
Source
https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/08/08/spain-now-very-close-to-the-goal-of-70-of-the-population-immunised/
Image Credit: La Moncloa
