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Spain is facing a delay in a new delivery of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, due to a “logistical problem” at Pfizer, says the country’s Health Minister.
Salvador Illa says that a temperature control problem during the vaccine loading and shipping process caused the incident, but the problem has now been resolved.
He said a new batch of the vaccine will now be delivered on Tuesday instead of Monday.
As Europe launched its vaccine push, the first Spanish doses were administered on Sunday at a residence in the center of the city of Guadalajara, near the capital Madrid.
The first person in Spain to receive the vaccine was Araceli Hidalgo, 96, who thanked God for receiving the vaccine.
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Europe has launched a vaccination program that it hopes will end the coronavirus pandemic and allow a return to normal life.
Speaking in an interview with the Cadena SER radio station, Illa said that she expects about 70% of the country’s population to be immunized by the end of the summer.
Spain has so far seen 49,824 deaths of COVID-19and 1,854,951 confirmed cases.
The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine on December 21, with the aim of ending the coronavirus pandemic and vaccinate all adults by the end of 2021.
Spain is not the first country affected by logistical problems due to strict temperature restrictions around the vaccine.
Germany faced delays on Sunday after GPS temperature trackers showed 1,000 shots may not have stayed cool enough during transit in various areas of the Bavarian state.
The vaccine should be stored at very low temperatures of approximately -70 ° C (-112 ° F), before being transported to distribution centers in specially designed refrigerated boxes filled with dry ice.
Once out of ultra-low temperature storage, the vaccine must be kept between 2 ° C and 8 ° C to remain effective for up to five days.
The vaccine should be stored at very low temperatures of approximately -70 ° C
The 27 nations of the EU have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths, although the actual numbers are likely to be higher due to limited testing, particularly early in the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a new variant of COVID-19 that has been found throughout the UK has also been detected in France and Spain.
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The new strain, called VUI-202012/01, is up to 70% more transmittable.
While experts are confident that the vaccine will work against this new variant, further testing will be necessary to be completely sure.
