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A 96-year-old man living in a residence in central Spain became the first person in the country to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Sunday, in an event broadcast on national television.
He did not feel “anything” from the shot, said Araceli Rosario Hidalgo Sánchez with a smile after being injected.
With her short white hair, the pensioner who lives in the Los Olmos retirement home in Guadalajara slowly got up after putting on her black jacket and walked away leaning on a frame.
Caregiver Monica Tapias continued as the second Spanish to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
“Araceli and Mónica today represent a new step full of hope,” tweeted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The Los Olmos house was chosen to kick off the country’s vaccination campaign because it is located near a Pfizer storage depot, where the vaccines were delivered from Belgium on Saturday prior to nationwide distribution.
So far, no cases of Covid-19 have been detected among staff or residents.
“It is a great pride and a great satisfaction for us, we are representing all nursing homes in Spain,” said director Marina Vadillo on Thursday.
After the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last Monday, the way is open for injections in the 27-member bloc.
Spain aims to vaccinate up to 20 million people by June, with an initial target of 2.5 million by the end of February.
High-risk or highly-exposed people, such as nursing home residents and medical personnel, will be first in line.
According to EU agreements, the country is prepared to receive 140 million doses, enough to vaccinate 80 million people, almost double the country’s population.
The additional doses will go to “nearby countries that may need them,” the Health Ministry said earlier this month.
Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the pandemic, has registered 1.8 million cases and almost 49,000 deaths.
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