The Public Health Commission agreed yesterday (Tuesday) to administer a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to the 6.8 million residents in Spain, including the Canary Islands, who are over 70 years old and who have already received two jabs, as long as it has been at least 6 months since their last one.
The Health Service will start implementing this new schedule from October 25th across the country with the over 70s age group, and will then continue with the almost 2.5 million people between 65 and 69 years old once they have passed the 6-month mark for their last jab.
The Commission confirmed that all adults in these age groups will receive a dose of Pfizer, even though a small proportion of them had the Janssen or Moderna first time round, however, the EMA has approved the combination of the vaccines with Pfizer as the third dose.
To start this new wave of vaccination, the health authorities currently have more than 4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in stock and, above all, there will be no supply problems in the next six months of doses for the 'booster' jab to the more than 35 million Spaniards over 18 years of age who have been fully vaccinated, after a new deal with BioNTech.
Until now, this booster dose was reserved exclusively for vulnerable people in Spain who have had organ transplants, hematopoietic stem cell transplants, patients receiving anti-CD20 drugs or very high-risk immunosuppressive treatments, and those who residents in nursing homes.
Covid and Flu vaccines on the same day:
The decision of the Public Health Commission, which will be endorsed tomorrow (Thursday) by the Inter-territorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), in practice means accepting that public health will be able to carry out a joint campaign for vaccination against Covid and against influenza.