Vaccination campaign ramps up with new mass site in Barcelona and record delivery

Catalonia's vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is ramping up, with a new mass vaccination center opening in Barcelona on the same day that Spain distributed a record number of doses.

Monday saw the Fira de Barcelona, an exhibition center that normally hosts large events like trade fairs, open its doors to administer 1,000 AstraZeneca vaccines to people aged between 60 and 69.

This weekend, from Friday to Sunday, 6,000 Catalan residents in their 70s will receive a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the venue. From next week, the numbers will depend on the doses available, up to a maximum of 120,000 per week.

The Fira de Barcelona is just one of 500 mass vaccination sites planned for Catalonia, which health officials hope will give the country capacity to administer 500,000 doses per week.

Record delivery

Monday also saw a record number of doses distributed throughout Spain.

Catalonia is receiving 280,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 30,200 of the Moderna vaccine and 16,900 of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to sources at the Catalan health department, a total of 327,100 vaccines arriving in a single day.

The Spanish health minister, Carolina Darias explained that 1.7 million doses of Pfizer, 188,000 doses of Moderna and 103,000 of AstraZeneca were being sent to health authorities across Spain and said that all over 80s will all be fully vaccinated by the end of this week. In Catalonia, 61.2% of this group already have received their two doses.

There was a third development in the vaccination program on Monday as people over 70 were able to receive the Pfizer vaccine outside of Primary Care Centers (CAPs). The Catalan health department said that the expansion of places will accelerate the vaccination campaign and has encouraged those who are eligible to choose a day and time on the website vacunacovidsalut.cat.

Rollout

Catalonia hopes to have 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer. As of April 25, 2021, 1,717,294 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 22.24% of the total population. Out of those, 633,412 have also been administered the second dose (8.20% of the total population).

Among priority groups, an overwhelming majority of care home residents (92.9%) are already fully vaccinated, as are 78.8% of primary care and hospital workers and 77.2% of very dependent people.

Among those over 80, 90.2% have had at least one dose and 61.2% have received both.

As for those between 70 and 79, exactly half (50%) have received the first jab, but only 4.3% are fully vaccinated. For those between 66 and 69 – who are getting the AstraZeneca jab – the figures are 42.4% and 3.7% respectively.

Yet, a greater number of essential workers (65%) and people between 60 and 65 (56.47%) have been administered the first dose, because the rollout of these groups with the AstraZeneca vaccine began some weeks before.