Increased demand for flu jabs has shown that the health system can deal with mass Covid vaccination. | Efe

TW
0

Prime Minister Sánchez said on Sunday that the coronavirus vaccination plan to be presented to the cabinet on Tuesday will have 13,000 vaccination points in order to guarantee "equitable access to vaccines" through the primary health care system.

Sánchez stressed that the government "will guarantee" that all prioritised groups have access to vaccines. The Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System will be agreeing a "single vaccination strategy". He repeated what he had said last week in saying that "a very substantial part of the population will be vaccinated with all guarantees during the first half of the year".

The vaccination campaign is due to start in January. In referring to the 13,000 vaccination points, the prime minister explained that ten million people each year normally receive the flu vaccine. This year, more people have had flu jabs - 14 million over the past eight weeks. "The National Health System is prepared to meet this objective."

Related news

The single vaccination strategy, he said, has been designed by a multidisciplinary group of experts drawn from regional governments, the Inter-Territorial Council and bioethics. The European Union, he noted, has so far signed five contracts for 1,200 million doses, of which Spain will receive - based on population - ten per cent.

Pedro Sánchez observed that this Christmas "will be different from those that we have known" and that the Inter-Territorial Council is working on a specific plan for a Christmas that will be different, "but safe". "This year we will have to stay at a distance from our loved ones instead of hugging them. The priority must be to prevent a third wave."

The state of alarm, he said, had worked during the first wave "and it is working in this second wave". By Monday, the 14-day cumulative incidence of coronavirus cases will be below 400 per 100,000.