One million first doses but vaccination still slow

BarcelonaJosefa Perez was the first Catalan woman to receive the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19 on December 27 last year. 97 days later, a person between 60 and 65 years old received the first dose this Saturday, which was the one that made a million. Already 1,010,874 first doses have been administered in Catalonia, representing 13% of the population. But the second doses do not reach half a million: 443,577 have been used, so that only 5.8% of the population has the full guideline. Although the Health department has administered doses of AstraZeneca in the middle of Easter -14,800 this Saturday and plans to use 12,800 this Sunday-, vaccination will still be slow over the next few weeks for the second doses and the lack of concreteness of the pharmaceutical in deliveries.

Pfizer has to deliver 190,000 doses this Monday that from Tuesday and especially Wednesday on will be administered to people over 80 years old who have not yet had the first dose. So far 64% of the population of this age group has already received it but only 27% have received the second dose. Therefore, once the first dose has been given to all those over 80 years of age -Health expects to finish next week-, it will be necessary to inject the second dose, which must be received after three weeks. With this schedule, then, the idea is that from April 12 Pfizer vaccination begins with people who are between 70 and 79, but without too much of an acceleration, because the second doses those over 80 years old must receive will delay the pace.

The Health Minister, Alba Vergés, has explained that the criterion for prioritising the first doses on those under 79 will be age and risk. The primary healthcare centres, as has already been done with those over 80, will assume the selection of people. As for the doses that arrived on Friday from AstraZeneca, Vergés has said that there are still 4,000 free appointments until Wednesday to vaccinate people who are between 60 and 65 years old - they can request an appointment through vacunacovidsalut.cat. 28% of the population of this age has already received the first dose but almost no one the second, which must be administered after 12 weeks. It is expected that at the end of April the second doses of AstraZeneca will begin to be administered.

Lower transmission

Vergés has visited this morning, accompanied by the Secretary of Public Health, Josep Maria Argimon, the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona. This space is one of the thirty points of vaccination that Health has arranged this Easter. During these last hours, the EPG has decreased to 280, and R number has also decreased again: it now stands at 1.16. However, 1,551 people remain in hospitals - 68 more than on Friday - 424 of them in ICUs - with three more patients. Thirty-five people have died and 710 new infections have been detected.

On the debate about whether the current restrictions, which end next Friday, should be tightened or maintained, Vergés has not said much, although she has made a call to "reduce interaction as much as possible". She asked people to work from home more, and avoid social activities outside the cohabitation bubble, because the virus is in a "not very intense" growth period and it depends on society if it can be controlled - or not.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Miquel Sàmper, has been worried about the increase of illegal parties this Easter. "Each time there are more", he warned in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio. According to Sàmper, the Mossos and the local police cannot supervise this type of social gatherings because they are done in places far from urban centers, such as farms or rural houses.