According to scientists, vaccination is bearing fruit in Spain as Covid-19 numbers fall. The death rate has not been this low here since the summer of 2020. In particular, infections and deaths among vaccinated elderly people in Spain are declining rapidly.
The decrease in the number of deaths has been clearly visible for some time. However, it is the number of deaths within the most vulnerable groups of the population which are particularly remarkable. Those are the groups of which a large percentage has already been vaccinated.
Deaths in Spain still declining
As Fernando Simón of the corona crisis center concluded earlier, the fourth corona wave does indeed seem to be a small one. Where at the end of January an average of 510 people a day died from the virus, there has since been a downward trend that, after a slight stagnation in mid-April, is now continuing. At the end of last week, an average of 39 deaths per day were reported in Spain.
Other figures also show a downward trend
It is not only the mortality rate in Spain which is declining significantly; across the board, the Covid-19 numbers fall. The number of new corona cases and ICU admissions per day have also shown a significant downward trend recently. During the most recent peak in mid-April, Spain reported an average of 8,500 corona cases daily.
That number is now on average 6,000. The same happened with the number of ICU admissions. In mid-April, an average of 60 to 65 people a day were admitted to intensive care. At the end of last week, that number dropped to about 22 a day.
Vaccination causes declining figures
Spanish scientists and the government attribute the downward trend to vaccination. At the time of writing, 21.9% of the population has been vaccinated at least once and 8.1% has already had the full dose.
New boost for vaccination campaign
It seems a given that vaccination will get a huge boost from now on. Spanish news channel La Sexta reported the delivery of a record number of vaccines – 1.7 million – from Pfizer on Monday morning. This increase is due to the agreement between Pfizer and the EU that the party will supply 50 million additional vaccines in the second quarter.
The Spanish government has a target to distribute 3.5 million vaccines (from all parties combined) every week among the autonomous regions by the end of May. For the time being, this seems to be a realistic goal. The main goal of the Spanish prime minister, to have 70% of all Spaniards vaccinated before the end of the summer, therefore seems feasible.
