Health minister Patricia Gómez has recognised that the vaccination of the 60 to 69 age group is "below average".
Addressing the Balearic parliament's health committee, Gómez accepted that there was room for improvement as only 83.3% of the age group has been vaccinated. There is one notable reason for this, however - this age group is receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. "There are people we have called four or five times. They have told us that they don't trust this vaccine and that until they can opt for a different vaccine, they will not be vaccinated." This is the group that most concerns the health ministry in terms of intensive care admissions and possible deaths.
The minister explained that AstraZeneca poses the greatest challenge for the vaccination programme. From June 16, second doses will begin to be administered to the 53,000 people aged between 60 and 69 who have had the first dose. There are also some 32,000 people from various professional groups who have opted to have AstraZeneca as their second dose.
Gómez said that there are 56,000 AstraZeneca vaccines in store and that with the anticipated June shipment there will be sufficient doses. During June, more than 400,000 doses of different vaccines are scheduled to be delivered. On Wednesday, a record number of doses for one day were administered - 16,119.