It's been a little less than three months since a pioneering ruling issued in Barcelona recognized the blood clots suffered by a teacher after being vaccinated against COVID with AstraZeneca doses as an occupational accident. Now, the Social Court No. 3 of Burgos has issued a very similar ruling, but with one relevant difference: in this case, the affected woman had received a first dose of AstraZeneca and two of Pfizer.

Our call is answered by an assistant with an executive air who, once she has checked that everything is in order,at the time we had agreed upon, brings on screen Dr. Özlem Türeci (Lastrup, Germany, 1967), co-founder and medical director of BioNTech, the company from which, together with Pfizer, she was able to develop one of the vaccines against covid-19. Dr. Türeci attends this interview from Mainz and expresses herself with the clarity of someone who is used to explaining scientific concepts with profane expressions and the simplicity of those who have achieved gigantic success. The biographical notes on this researcher and entrepreneur of Turkish parents present her as one of the richest women in Germany (it is estimated that in 2022 alone Pzifer-BioNTech will have a turnover of 37.77 billion euros for the covid vaccine). Özlem Türeci received the Catalonia 2020 International Award this week, which honored her and three other women, all fighters against the coronavirus.

Companies Pfizer and BioNTech will ask the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to inject a third booster dose of their vaccine and thus offer more protection against covid-19. In a statement reported by Efe news agency, the two companies say they have "encouraging data" from an ongoing test of the booster vaccine and added that it provides five to ten times higher levels of neutralizing antibodies when administered six months after the second dose. The companies plan to submit this data to the FDA "in the next few weeks" to get clearance.

The Ministry of Health plans to vaccinate teenagers aged between 12 and 17 two weeks before the start of the school year, as announced on Friday by Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias. The Spanish government's idea is to propose to the Public Health Commission that teenagers start being vaccinated at the end of summer, about fifteen days before they go back to class, to ensure the presence of students throughout the course.

Adolescents aged 12 to 15 can also receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Europe. This was decided on Friday by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Its experts have been examining clinical trials on the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine since May in order to be able to deliver this verdict in an accelerated manner. The pharmaceutical company had already argued that tests had been carried out on more than 2,260 adolescents showing 100% effectiveness and "good tolerance". The European Commission now has to take the final step to approve it, but each EU member state has the power to decide how and when it wants to start using it with this age group.

The health department reports that 87% of the 4,603 key workers who received their second coronavirus jab this Thursday opted to complete the schedule with AstraZeneca. In total, 4,006 people chose the Anglo-Swedish drug despite recommendations by the Interterritorial Council to use the Pfizer vaccine. Nevertheless, individuals are allowed to opt for a second dose of AstraZeneca after submitting a signed informed consent that can be downloaded from the website of the Department of Health or take a printed version to the place where they will be vaccinated.

People under the age of 60 vaccinated with a first dose from AstraZeneca will receive a second dose from Pfizer if the Ministry of Health's proposal goes ahead. The public health commission continues to debate this possibility and it will have to be ratified on Wednesday by the Interterritorial Health Council, which is made up of the Ministry of Health and the health ministers of the autonomous communities. The decision, however, will not be unanimous because governments such as those of Madrid and Andalusia are in favour of completing the guideline with AstraZeneca.

The pace of vaccination continues to accelerate in the State after the problems with AstraZeneca and Janssen, which led the European Union to entrust Pfizer with the purchase of 50 million additional doses this quarter. Thus, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Monday from La Rioja that today Spain will beat the record of arrival and distribution of vaccines among regions, with the arrival of more than 2 million doses in a single day. Specifically, it is 1,763,190 from Pfizer, 103,200 from AstraZeneca and 188,400 from Moderna, while waiting for Janssen to send the second shipment promised for April. As for Catalonia, it will receive 280,000 doses from Pfizer, 30,200 from Moderna and 16,900 from AstraZeneca.

At last holidays and at last further vaccinations. In spite of all the bad things, it seems that this Easter Week is giving us a little breathing space and even a slight dose of optimism, which we are very much in need of. A considerable part of the population has been able to leave home and enjoy a change of scenery, something that many will be grateful for after a long time without being able to leave the municipality, first, and the region, later. And, at the same time, the vaccination process is speeding up -this weekend and on Bank Holiday Monday there will be vaccinations-, which opens the door to think that maybe we will achieve the goal of reaching summer in conditions of a minimum normality. But let's not rush.

The Health Department has already administered 986,514 first doses of the vaccine against covid-19, according to the latest data released on Friday. In the last 24 hours 55,149 people have been vaccinated with the first dose and 7,843 with the second, which means that there are a total of 62,992 doses administered (17,704 less than yesterday). 442.487 people have already received the second dose of the vaccine, so 5.8% of the population already has the full guideline, 6.9% if we take into account only people over 16 years old.