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Salvador Illa.
Care home residents and staff to get Covid vaccines from January, says minister

Care home residents and staff to get Covid vaccines from January, says minister

The government has announced the first version of its strategy to distribute doses in three phases next year

ÁLVARO SOTO

Friday, 27 November 2020, 12:14

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The national minister for Health, Salvador Illa, said this week that, if all went to plan with the predicted rollout of the vaccination, the first Covid-19 vaccines would be given to the most vulnerable groups from January onwards. However full details beyond March are sketchy until the availability of the vaccines becomes clearer.

The government unveiled its three-phase plan for the vaccination, which would start in the new year with some 2.5 million people who are either resident in care homes or work in them.

This first phase, running to March, would also then include frontline health workers, followed by other health and social care workers, and finally patients needing high levels of care at home for a disability. Only a limited number of vaccines are expected to be available at his stage.

In the second phase, which is less precise at present, starting in April and running to June, more vaccines would be given and from June onwards the government expects to be giving more widespread jabs. It has broken down the population into 18 categories starting with those most at risk.

The Health ministry plans to take delivery of 140 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine, from the several different versions currently being trialled. Spanish stocks will come via EU-wide agreements with the manufacturers. This would give Spain enough to vaccinate 80 million people, almost double the country's population.

The strategy also explains that the initial plan is to set up 13,000 vaccination points mostly in local health centres. The vaccine would be free to everyone that wanted it.

The Andalusian government's spokesperson, Elías Bendodo, told SUR this week that the regional health service was ready for the phase one start in January and that 25 million syringes had been stockpiled in Andalucía.

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