Spain to receive 1st batch of Moderna COVID vaccine in 7-10 days, says Health Minister

Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa on January 7 said that the country will receive the first batch of the coronavirus vaccine developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna in 7-10 days. The European Commission has authorised the Moderna vaccine, which became the second COVID vaccine approved by the bloc following the authorisation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Now, Spain is expected to receive 16-17 million doses, which will inoculate nearly 8.5 million people. 

While speaking at a press conference, Illa said, “According to the information provided by the company, in the next 7-10 days, we will start receiving doses of this vaccine… The signed contracts prescribed that in the next six weeks we will receive 600,000 doses”. 

The European Medical Agency (EMA) has said that a “very large clinical trial” showed Moderna’s vaccine to be 94.1 per cent effective. The EU agency said that the trial included 30,000 people between 18 to 94 years of age. The trial proved the vaccine is safe and effective and also showed the efficacy of 90.9% in people with chronic lung disease, heart disease, obesity, liver disease, diabetes, or HIV infection. Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is administered in two doses, 28 days apart. 

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‘Sufficient for all Spanish citizens; 

Moderna will become the second coronavirus vaccine available in Spain. So far, the officials have distributed nearly 744,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine among various autonomous communities, but the vaccination process is comparatively slow as just over 139,000 vaccinations have been made since December 27. According to ANI, the country’s inoculation programme is divided into four stages and during the first stage, the vaccine will be given to residents and staff or nursing homes and facilities for handicapped people as well as medical personnel. 

Last month, Illa had said that there will be a sufficient number of doses available for all Spanish citizens. Meanwhile, Spain is one of the worst affected nations in the world and not just in Europe. The country has reported nearly two million infections so far, while over 51,000 people have lost their lives. The number of daily cases in the country began to rise in August and at its peak, Spain recorded nearly 20,000 cases on a single day, which occurred on October 19. However, the number of daily infections have now begun to come down with fluctuations every now and then. 

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