10% of Catalans have received the first dose of the covid vaccine

Barcelona10% of Catalans have so far received the first dose of the covid vaccine and of these, just over half, 5.5% of the total, are already immunized with the full course. This is what emerges from the data on the rate of vaccination made public today by the Department of Health, which also shows that 60% of the major dependents are vaccinated with both doses. As for those over 80 years, today 22.6% have received the full course of vaccination and 36.7% have the first dose.

The greatest progress has been made in the area of care homes, which was a priority: 91.2% of the residents and 75.1% of the staff working in one of these homes are already fully vaccinated. Regarding health care workers, 75.5% of primary care and hospital staff are immunized with the full regimen. As for the rest of the healthcare and socio-healthcare staff, 55.2% have received the first dose and 8.9% have already completed the vaccination.

The group where the improvements are now most noticeable is the population between 60 and 65 years old, which this week has begun to receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after the Ministry of Health decided to increase the age range to 65. 9.7% of the total have already received the first dose.

6.5% of the target population has been immunized

If we take into account the target population of the vaccine currently by age -those over 16 years-, 11.8% of the Catalan population has received a dose of the vaccine against covid-19, while 6.5% are vaccinated with the full regimen. In total numbers, in Catalonia there are 774,947 vaccinated with the first dose and 414,911 with the second.

The department of Health trusts to be able to accelerate the rhythm from next month on, when an increase of the arrival of the different vaccines is foreseen. From April onwards and during the second quarter of the year 800,000 doses of Janssen, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are expected to arrive. According to the Spanish government, the arrival of this new vaccine will help to increase the pace and be able to meet the goal of immunizing 70% of the Spanish population this summer.

From this week onwards, it is also expected that more Pfizer vaccines, which are the most regularly delivered, will be available for first doses. Next week, 104,000 are due to arrive, 80,000 of them for first vaccinations. The following week, 5-11 April, 194,000 more are expected to arrive. The Health Department, with more modest forecasts than those of the Spanish government, hopes to have vaccinated all the most at-risk population by mid-summer.

Indicators worsen

As for the evolution of the pandemic, indicators worsen at the beginning of Easter: today 1,389 new infections and 11 deaths have been reported. There are 67 more patients admitted in hospital (1,385) and 2 more in the ICUs (396). The EPG (+8, 234) and the R number (+0.01, 1.11) have increased.