Over 69k vaccine doses have expired, health department admits

Over 69,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have expired in recent weeks, Catalonia’s general secretary of public health, Carmen Cabezas, has admitted. 

Precisely 69,129 jabs have been lost, with authorities citing the difficulty of adjusting the levels of supply to the demand for vaccines now that jabs are available without an appointment. 

Health authorities opened the inoculation campaign to those without appointment in August to allow as many people to be protected from the coronavirus as quickly as possible. 

During the summer the rate of vaccination slowed down significantly as many people were away on holidays, and it was expected that in September it would pick up again, but this has not come to pass. 

Over the past two weeks, from September 8 to September 21, a total of 235,529 jabs have been administered. The fortnight prior, August 25 to September 7, there were 447,351 doses given. 

The peak of the vaccination campaign came in late June, when in the two-week period between June 18 and July 1, a total of 1,296,823 jabs were given. 

Vaccines have also been made available on ten university campuses this September, where 1,297 doses have been administered.

Catalonia surpassed the milestone of 70% of the population being fully protected against Covid-19 on September 11. This goal was originally set for end of August, but it took some extra days to be reached – yet, authorities and experts have repeatedly said that due to the Delta variant, this milestone is no longer as relevant as initially believed as it will not bring the much-awaited herd immunity.

As of September 21, 2021, 5,860,429 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 73.9% of the total population. Out of those, 4,976,155 have also been administered a second dose (62.9% of the total population). 

A total of 5,649,578 residents are considered to be fully immunized (71.3%). Under 65s who have already had the virus are only required to have the first dose, and others have received a single-dose jab. Therefore, the % of two doses administered and % fully immunized do not match.