The vaccination of people over 80 years of age who do not live in care homes in the south of Spain will be severely affected this week as the region receives only half of the planned doses from Pfizer.

Some Malaga health centres have had to postpone the vaccination of the elderly and are calling patients to notify them that they will receive the injection on another date, once the supply is normalised next week.

Nursing professionals consulted by SUR have said that they are contacting people who had an appointment from Wednesday onwards to inform them that due to the lack of doses they will not be able to give them the vaccine as scheduled and that they will be inoculated next week if enough vials arrive.

The Malaga health district alone receives between 1,100 and 1,200 daily doses, which it distributes equally among its health centres. This week the number of vials has been reduced by half.

One major obstacle faced by the health centres in Malaga is that they receive very few vaccines (about 30 per centre per day) for the elderly population. Sources consulted by SUR said that in two days, or at most in three, all elderly people could be vaccinated if there were enough doses.

Health professionals consulted by SUR said they regret having to postpone the vaccination of the elderly in health centres due to the supply shortage. “We do everything we can. We have plenty of capacity to give vaccines, what we lack is doses. The vaccination rate is very slow. The situation will not be expedited until we receive a much higher number of vials," added the source.