In April, May and June, 21.7 million people in Spain are expected to be vaccinated against the corona virus. This is partly thanks to 55 million doses of Janssen vaccine to be distributed among EU member states in April. This means a major step towards herd immunity can be taken with the vaccine before summer.
In the virtual EU summit on Thursday, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission announced that Europe will receive a total of 360 million doses of vaccine. The majority, 200 million doses, comes from pharmaceutical company Pfizer / BioNTech. From AstraZeneca, 70 million of the promised 180 million doses will eventually be distributed. From the American pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson, 35 million doses and a further 55 of the Dutch Janssen vaccine will arrive.
Janssen vaccine in the second half of April
The latter vaccine is particularly relevant. Because, unlike the other approved vaccines, only one dose per person is required for immunisation against the corona virus. Spain expects to receive the first 300,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine in the second half of April.
More than 10% of deliveries to Europe are for Spain
Spain will receive about 10.5% of all promised vaccines. That equates to 37.8 million doses, with which 21.7 million people can be made immune to the corona virus. According to data from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Spain has so far received 8.5 million doses. Of these, 6.8 million have now been administered, and 2.3 million residents of Spain are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Tipping point next month for vaccine before summer
Minister Reyes Maroto of Commerce and Tourism has also announced that there will be a tipping point in April. According to her, 30-40% of the population will have been vaccinated before summer. Furthermore, by the end of the summer this figure will rise to 70%.
During the virtual summit, von der Leyen also discussed the export control of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This pharmaceutical company had again incited the ire of the European Commission after 29 million doses of vaccine were discovered at a manufacturing site in Italy last Wednesday. These doses were suspected to be reserved for delivery to countries outside Europe, including England and America.
The discovery of the shipment of vaccines in Italy follows the already tense relationship between the European Commission and AstraZeneca over shortages in the delivery of the vaccines to Europe. The EU now wants a control mechanism that stops exports to countries outside the EU. Despite two factories in England being identified as suppliers of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the country has not yet exported a single dose to any of the European countries.
