Catalonia kicks off Covid-19 vaccination drive for kids ages 5 to 11

Wednesday marked another important date in Catalonia's Covid-19 vaccination campaign almost a year after it first began: children between the ages of 5 to 11 began to be inoculated against the virus that has been radically disrupting society since early 2020.

This means that another 565,000 of Catalonia's 7.7 million residents are now eligible for the vaccine, which will be administered in the form of pediatric Pfizer doses that are a third of the amount for people over 12.

From Monday at 2 pm, when appointments for this age group first opened, to Tuesday night, over 71,000 were booked.

Health authorities continue to insist on the importance of booster shots for people over the age of 60 as the sixth wave of the pandemic is yet to peak and cases are on the rise. Only people over the age of 60, care home residents, immunocompromised people and those who received the Janssen vaccine are eligible for them at the moment.

Vaccine rollout in Catalonia

As of December 14, 2021, 6,123,191 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 77.3% of the total population. Out of those, 5,344,924 have also been administered a second dose (67.6% of the total population). 6,004,735 residents are considered to be fully immunized (75.6%).

Third doses have also been approved for some population groups, and Catalonia has been giving them to elderly care home residents since September 17.

As of December 14, 2021, Catalonia has administered 1,166,278 booster shots to these groups.