Andalucia Vaccination Programme

A number of citizens have been asking me about the vaccination against Covid-19, the current position is as follows:

On December 27, 2020 the vaccination programme against Covid-19 began in Andalucia, in coordination with the strategy which is being followed throughout Spain.  Initially this campaign was started, focusing on people in nursing homes and the health and social health professionals who work in them, as well as the health professionals and other personnel who work in the first line of action against Covid-19  (health centres, hospitals, medical consultations, etc).

The vaccine will only be available in the public health system.  At the present time there are no plans to have the vaccine in  private hospitals, health centres or for sale in pharmacies.

Due to the necessity to store the vaccine in refrigerated conditions, at the present time vaccinations are being carried out in selected vaccination centres with their vaccination teams, which are also being mobilised to nursing homes.

Currently, the only two vaccines being put in place are the Comirnaty® vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) and the Moderna® vaccine, both based on messenger RNA.  You cannot choose which vaccine you want to have, they are given at the discretion of the medical authorities.

Regarding the most appropriate place for the injection, given that the people to be vaccinated are aged 16 years and over, it is recommended to administer it preferably in the deltoid muscle (arm).

The vaccine is not recommended at any time during pregnancy, but it can be advised for at risk workers (nurses, medical personnel and other workers) who may be exposed to the virus through their work.

Currently, although trials are just beginning in 12-16-year-olds, there are no efficacy and safety data in this age group. This, together with the low severity seen at this age, means that its use is not currently recommended in children under 16 years of age in the case of Comirnaty® or in children under 18 years of age in the case of the Moderna® vaccine.

There is currently no data on the possible effects of the vaccine during breastfeeding, or on milk production or on the infant, but as they are mRNA vaccines and not attenuated virus vaccines, they are not considered to pose a risk to the infant.

The objective is to reach the maximum number of people in the shortest time possible, without interruptions, seven days a week. Regarding the second stage of vaccination, it is foreseeable that vaccination will continue with people over 70 years of age.  The plan envisages vaccinating them in a period of six weeks, from March 15 to April 25, 2021.

The rest of the population will begin to be vaccinated after this period, without there being a specific timeframe for the time being, so the authorities will inform them of the vaccination campaigns and where to go.  The vaccination will be carried out, in principle, in coordination with the health centre and the doctor assigned to it by the Andalucian public health system.

Marisa Moreno Castillo, Consul of Denmark and Senior Lawyer at Just Law Solicitors • contact@justlawsolicitors.com • www.justlawsolicitors.com