Camp Nou or Sagrada Familia: Health Department seeks "emblematic places" for vaccinations

The department of Health is looking for "emblematic" spaces for when the vaccination enters its massive phase, and among these is the Camp Nou. This has been confirmed by the secretary of Public Health, Josep Maria Argimon, who in an interview to Catalunya Ràdio has said that they have already had some conversations with Barça but that it will be necessary to wait for the elections at the club to speak with the new president and to polish the details. The vaccination point, he said, would be a space within the facilities of the field but outdoors. The Camp Nou, in fact, will become a polling station on Sunday for the first time, since the need for space between voters has led Barcelona City Council to choose new locations.

Argimon, who until now had pointed to the possibility of installing vaccination places in spaces such as the Oval Room of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), has also advanced that he would like one of these emblematic places in Barcelona to be the Sagrada Familia. In this case, however, there has not yet been any contact with the temple to confirm it.

The secretary of Public Health has recognised that these spaces, which are wanted to transmit the importance of the vaccination, will be put in march in the general phase and not in the short term because, has insisted, now "they lack vaccines": about two million more per month would be necessary.

Under 55s

Argimon also referred to the fact that the first 31,780 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which in Spain is not administered to people over 55 years of age, have been destined for professionals in pharmacies, physiotherapists, podiatrists, speech therapists, nutritionists, prison officers and members of the security and emergency forces. According to the Secretary of Public Health, the Government has not ruled out including teachers in the next phases of vaccination and, in fact, plans to include them in the vaccination plan over the next three months.

In a corps such as the Catalan Police, if you exclude those over 55 years, there are 15,801 officers needing a jab, while in the local police there are 10,703. Therefore, if the planned rate of arrival of doses is maintained, these groups will be quickly immunised. If teachers and school administration and services personnel are counted, there are 168,000 people to be vaccinated, 80,000 of whom are teachers.

According to the calculations of the Department of Health, this Sunday, when the election day is celebrated in Catalonia, there will be between 70,000 and 80,000 people either infected with covid themselves or who have been in close contact with someone who is. Argimon has recognised that "it would be better if they stayed at home," as the infectious disease specialist Oriol Mitjà has been asking for days, although he admitted that "they have the fundamental right to vote".