NOW that just over 1% of Spain's population has had both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19, health authorities have revealed who will be next to be immunised.
So far, all healthcare staff on the front line – in most cases, this includes cleaners, hospital porters and canteen employees – care home workers and care home residents have had both jabs, except in nursing homes with current cases of the virus.
Those homes where everyone has since tested negative are now starting to get their injections, and the over-80s living at home are being immunised.
Unlike in the UK where, it seems, medical authorities are working their way through the different sections of the community much quicker, Spain has opted to give each group both doses before moving onto the next – in Britain, first doses are being worked through rapidly, but second doses are waiting longer, with appointments for the over-75s already given their first now being issued for March.
Once Spain's residents aged 80 and over have had both jabs – meaning they will be completely immune to the effects of the virus, even though not necessarily unable to pass it on – health authorities will move onto the National Police and the Guardia Civil.
Prison workers will be immunised at the same time, as they spend a lot of their day in enclosed spaces with members of the public who are often of a conflictive nature.
Secretary of State for Security, on behalf of the ministry for the interior, and the ministry of health have both said it is crucial for police to be vaccinated as soon as health and care workers and the most clinically-vulnerable members of society are immunised.
This is because officers are in regular contact with the public, often without warning or without being able to socially-distance, including people who display difficult or disturbing behaviour and may not be concerned about putting others at risk.
Also, police get involved in medical emergencies and would not be in a position to protect themselves from contagion if this impeded them carrying out their duties.
Whenever someone calls the 112 emergency number and summons and ambulance or the fire brigade, the Local or National Police or the Guardia Civil are automatically dispatched at the same time – that way, if paramedics or fire engines take too long to arrive, officers, who will be there within minutes, can start first aid, evacuating burning buildings, and other vital actions that cannot wait for the 'main' services to get through traffic jams or travel from towns several kilometres away.
For this reason, it is rare to hear complaints from the public about lives lost or endangered through long delays in ambulance arrivals, and very frequent to hear praise about town police officers saving lives through CPR, anti-choking manoeuvres, rescues, and so forth – even delivering babies.
This week, additionally, the ministry of health will be discussing whether or not to administer the AstraZeneca, or 'Oxford' vaccine, to the over-65s, in light of concerns by its creators that it may not be suitable for these age groups.
It has already been decided that the AstraZeneca jab will not be administered to those aged 80 and over.
A total of 6.7 million vaccine doses – enough to give just over 7% of the population both jabs – are due to arrive in the country in the next two months; this is likely to include the Moderna immunisation, originally scheduled for distribution in Europe from late February.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Security says there should be no need for even tighter restrictions on mobility whilst health and care services, the elderly and the police get their injections – even though mortality rates appear to be much higher in the 'third wave' of the virus and contagion levels have soared over the winter, the latter is starting to level off.
Early on in the post-lockdown era of the pandemic, Spain's government opted to let regional governments decide on restriction levels – within certain national criteria – on the basis that these had a better idea of what was happening within their own territories than politicians based in Madrid, often hundreds of kilometres away.
Source: Thinkspain.com
No comments:
Post a Comment