The vaccination campaign against COVID-19 for the almost 3.3 million children between 5 and 11 years of age begins this Wednesday in Spain
Under 12 vaccinations start today in Spain: From today in health centers, hospitals and other vaccination centers, Spains under 12 program has begun. Some regions have also chosen to use schools as vaccination centers.
It was last Monday when the first shipment of pediatric vaccines against COVID arrived in Spain, a total of 1.3 million doses of Pfizer, and it was the Ministry of Health that has been in charge of their distribution to the communities. In Spain, each of the 17 territories is in charge of its own healthcare systems, vaccination programs and coronavirus restrictions.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for this age group was validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and was backed by the group of experts that is advising the Spanish health authorities.
The Health Ministry will receive 3.2 million doses during December and January. This will be sufficient to administer a first shot to nearly all children in Spain aged between five and 11, of which there are an estimated 3.3 million. Eight weeks later the second dose will be given.
The inoculation of the child population begins as the incidence of the coronavirus continues to grow in Spain. And already stands at 412.26 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest figured published by the Ministry of Health. 58 points more than the previous day.
With 412 cases per 100,000 in this age group over the last two weeks, this is nearly double the average for Spain (248). And more than triple that for adolescents (133) or the over-80s (125).
Alarmingly, the group with the next highest incidence rate are the 30- to 50-year-olds. This is related to the average ages of most parents of these youngsters.
As for the figures, the official count in Spain reaches 88,542 deaths and the cases registered since the beginning of the pandemic amount to 5,366,128.
There are more than 5.3 million deaths and more than 270 million people infected worldwide by the new coronavirus, SARS-COV-2.