- Zenia Boulevard Drop In Vaccinations to return on Saturday 18 December
The health department will begin to vaccinate children between the ages of ages 5 to 11, in schools from Wednesday.
On Monday, the Valencian Community will receive 150,000 paediatric doses of the Pfizer vaccine that will allow the process of vaccination to begin.
The Minister of Health, Ana Barceló, announced the move this week, stating that vaccination will get underway “in special education schools and immunosuppressed minors and, later, as we have done with the general population, we will follow an age order, starting with those under 11, 10 and 9 years old”.
Barceló continued, “we will then move to age groups of 8, 7, 6 and 5 years, we finish the vaccination of all 330,000 boys and girls between 5 and 11 years of age in the Valencian Region”.
To carry out the vaccination process, the Department of Health will send vaccination teams, made up of health professionals, to educational centres in the Valencian Community as well as to the special education centres.
Vaccination will require the prior authorisation of the minor’s parents or legal guardians, so that only children who have such authorisation will be immunised.
The Vice President of the Valencia Region, Mónica Oltra, wanted to reassure parents who choose not to have their children vaccinated will still be able to attend their educational centres as normal, since immunisation against the virus is not mandatory. However, she also stated that refusals to inoculate have been “very rare” in the Community.
Meanwhile the ‘Drop In Vaccination Point’ that was operated at La Zenia Boulevard was deemed to be such a success that it will be returning next Saturday 18 December.
Last Tuesday, despite the threat of demonstrations, 945 doses of the vaccine were administered during the course of the day.
Queues were both constant and lengthy throughout the day, at times approaching 400 metres, but the service was both efficient and relatively speedy, with no one waiting for more than an hour.
The current campaign is aimed at those over 11 years of age who are yet to be vaccinated, with the health authorities warning that the epidemiological situation is worrying, especially in the Torrevieja health area where approximately 18% of the population, almost one in five people, are still to receive their first jab.
The mandatory nature of the Covid Passport in the Valencian Community has increased the administration of first doses in autonomy by 74%.
The certificate is required to enter leisure and restaurant venues with capacity for more than 50 people; spaces dedicated to recreational and activities with food; events and celebrations of more than 500 people where the mask cannot always be worn and in visits to hospitals (when permitted) and social services residences.
During the fourth week of November, the growth rate accelerated. In fact, last weekend, a total of 2,190 doses were administered at the mobile points without prior appointment and the opening hours had to be extended to be able to vaccinate all interested people. The week closed with 7,524 first doses administered (compared to 4,331 in the first week of November, that is, 74% more).
