Yesterday the Santiago Martín Pavilion looked very much like it does for a concert or sports event, as thousands of Tenerife residents between 40 and 59 years old took the opportunity to get vaccinated. Attendance exceeded the expectation of the SCS as they began their 24-hour vaccine marathon, that began yesterday and ended at 8 o’clock this morning, with the aim of inoculating more than 12,000 people. By 6pm yesterday afternoon, 6,000 had already been injected.
Two access points were created to the arena, one for those who had an appointment, and one for those who did not, with queues spaced correctly, masks worn, and SCS staff working as quickly as possible to reduce waiting time which was approximately 2 hours.
The reasons people gave for going without an appointment ranged from “my wife had an appointment today so I took advantage of it and came with her”, to “I work all week and I saw the opportunity to do it on a Sunday without missing work”, to that of another who admitted that they had not yet been vaccinated out of “fear”, but also admitted that it had to be done, so they brushed it off without much thought.
In total, the Ministry of Health sent out more than 54,000 messages to the target population, hoping that 25% would respond and go to the Santiago Martín, hence the forecast to inoculate around 12,000 doses. By 11am, 3,500 had already been exceeded, at a rate of more than 800 jabs per hour, reaching 6,000 at 6pm.
The HUNSC manager in charge of organising the day, Natacha Sujanani, spoke to the media during the morning, and took the opportunity to thank all the people who “had come on their day off, and who don't mind queuing, because they understand that this is the only way to get out of this terrible situation, which has cost so many lives, and so much suffering”. She admitted that there are still many unvaccinated people, "and that affects the numbers in Tenerife, so we have to make this massive appeal and put all the means at our disposal.”
When asked if there was a risk of running out of vaccines, the response of the Deputy Director at Candelaria, José Carlos Campos, said “hopefully”. Campos explained that, although they opened at 8am yesterday morning, they were preparing from six, at which time there were already people waiting to get vaccinated.
In total, 40 positions were set up with 70 nurses on rotation who were injecting the doses. “In addition to the 70 nurses, there are also assistants or orderlies, who are also part of the team for today, and are all volunteers”.
