More than 15% of the Balearic population will get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine before Easter, according to the Ministry of Health.
246,000 doses will arrive in the Islands before the end of this month and the combination of increasing numbers of vaccines being shipped and the ‘no doses in the fridge’ policy means a lot more people will be immunised this month.
Every day around 3,000 people are being immunised and 5,600 people a week are being vaccinated at the former Son Dureta Hospital, but that will increase significantly when Germans Escales Sports Centre starts vaccinating on Monday.
70 health professionals are working 12 hour shifts from Monday to Sunday and some lines are staying open until 22.00.
"We need to improve the doses received vs vaccination ratio to measure our supply capacity," acknowledged Eugenia Carandell, who’s the new Head of the Vaccination Campaign.
On Friday, 101,180 of the doses received in the Balearic Islands were administered, which is about 79.3%.
5,854 second-line paramedics; 5,000 Special needs, Infant and Primary Teachers and 300 Local Police have already been immunised and the Guardia Civil, National Police and firefighters are next in line.
Only those aged 55 are being given the AstraZeneca vaccine, but they’ll have to wait nearly three months for their second jab.
Nursing Home residents and first line Health Professionals have had both doses of the coronavirus vaccine; 95-112 have also started getting theirs and 90-94 year olds will be immunised this weekend at Health Centres in Mallorca.
23,630 vaccines will arrive in the Balearic Islands next week; 24,280 the week after; 32,760 in the week of March 23 and 42,330 in the last week of the month.
The constant increase in doses will help to move things forward and one in three vaccines administered will be a first dose, which guarantees a high percentage of immunity.
Forecast
When the national vaccination strategy was presented last November, it was explained that in the first quarter of the year, the doses would be distributed amongst the Communities according to risk group numbers.
At the time the Pfizer vaccine was the only one approved by the European Medicines Agency.
The Balearic Islands was scheduled to receive an estimated 120,000 doses for 60,000 Nursing Home residents, first-line Healthcare Professionals and dependents.
By the end of March, the Balearic Islands will have received 197,060 vaccines from Pfizer; 167,560 from AstraZeneca and 29,500 from Moderna.
The Ministry of Health says the campaign is going according to plan and expects a much bigger shipment of vaccines to arrive in April now that Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine has been approved.
So the Government’s goal of immunising 70% of the population before summer could happen after all.