20% of the Catalan population has already received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine

BarcelonaTwo out of 10 people living in Catalonia (20.1%) have already received the first dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus. Despite delays, preventive stops and changes in criteria, the pace of vaccination has accelerated, and if it took up to three months to cover the first 10% of the immunised population, the next bit has been achieved in three weeks. However, it is still far from the so-called herd immunity, located around 70%, which the Spanish government maintains that it will be possible by the end of the summer, despite the obstacles with the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Janssen. The Department of Health calculates that in June it will have been vaccinated -some still partially- the entire population who is over 65 years old.

According to data updated this Saturday by the Department of Health, 6.4% of Catalans have already received both doses and 6.6% have been vaccinated with the full schedule (here are added those under 56 years vaccinated with a single dose who have had covid). In absolute figures, more than two million injections have been administered: there are 1,565,695 people with a first dose and 500,089 with both doses.

More than half of those aged 60 to 65 are vaccinated

37.9% of the group aged 70 to 79 have received the first dose and 2.1% have also received the second dose, while a quarter of those aged 66 to 69 years have already received a first dose and more than half of those aged 60 to 65 years have been vaccinated with the first dose. On the other hand, 94.8% of nursing home users have received the first dose and 92.5% have also received the second dose.

As for nursing home workers, 81% have received the first dose and 75.7% have received the second dose, which has reduced mortality in this sector, which was ground zero of the pandemic, and new infections are residual. In addition, of those over 80 who live at home, almost 9 out of 10 have already had half the vaccination regimen completed, and a third, the second, while 73% of those who have received the full regimen are highly dependent.

As for essential workers, 66.3% have received the first dose and only 1% the second, while waiting for the decision regarding which vaccine the under 60s will receive, after the use of AstraZeneca was stopped due to isolated cases of thrombosis among those vaccinated.

The latest epidemiological data have given room for optimism because, despite the opening during the Easter holidays, there has not been the feared resurgence and, despite the fact that ICU occupancy continues at plateau levels - with half of the beds with critically ill covid patients - a slight relaxation in the system has been noted and it is hoped that little by little discharges will be made as those over 65 years of age are vaccinated. At the rate at which vaccination is progressing, forecasts suggest that by the end of April there will be a drastic reduction in mortality from covid because most of the groups most susceptible to medical complications already have one or even two doses, according to a study by Biocom-SC.