Humphrey CarterPalma02/03/2021 12:11
TW
3

ACCORDING to the Covid protocol handbook, Germans, and some residents on mainland Spain, can now travel to the Balearics without having had a PCR test because their infections rates have fallen below the 150 per 100,000 inhabitants benchmark. A risk to say the least, considering the slow rollout of the vaccination programme.

The World Health Organization said over the weekend that it will take five years for the world’s population to have been vaccinated, although the Johnson & Johnson one-shot jab may speed things up.

In the meantime, as we are seeing in Spain, the vaccination programme has to gather some serious momentum if the EU targets are to be reached. Remember that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said no foreign tourism until 70 percent of the population is vaccinated; that could take until September and most other EU countries are struggling to keep up with vaccinations.

So, we could be sleep walking into a scenario with people travelling without having had a Covid test or vaccination.
Spain is desperate to open safe air corridors, but they are surely going to have to be just that - safe.

This is not the time for any form of loophole being opened, whether it complies with the WHO protocol or not. It totally contradicts what the Balearic government has been saying - safety first to protect the summer season.