CISNS reaches agreement on application of Vaccination Strategy governed by ethical framework "in which there is no room for shortcuts"

This announced was made by the Spanish Minister for Health, Carolina Darias, at a press briefing following the plenary session organised from the Moncloa Palace Complex that she attended alongside the Spanish Minister for Territorial Policy and Public Function, Miquel Iceta, and the Director of the Health Alert and Emergency Coordination Centre, Fernando Simón.

The minister stressed that the agreement reached on Thursday is governed by a "robust ethical framework" based on the principles of fairness, need, equality, protection and solidarity. She reiterated that the State Vaccination Strategy against coronavirus has been purposefully designed on a "solid, coordinated and involved" basis "under a common European framework".

Carolina Darias explained it is a living document that requires a coordinated effort, which is precisely what the Technical Work Group, the Vaccinations Committee and the Public Health Commission are providing. "I would like to underline the complexity of this vaccination process, but we all have a responsibility to build confidence and certainty", she underlined.

52,000 new doses from Moderna

The minister also announced that a new delivery of 52,000 vaccine doses will take place on Sunday from Moderna to Spain, arriving in the country on Monday and to the island regions on Tuesday.

Similarly, she confirmed that a total of 1,769,000 doses have already been delivered to the autonomous regions and that a total of 1,395,618 have already been given to people, 79% of the total. Furthermore, 192,759 people have already received the second dose.

Carolina Darias went on to explain that the process of registering six doses per vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech has begun, meaning that 422,000 doses will arrive in the autonomous regions and cities each week.

"Spain stands among the leading countries worldwide and in Europe" in terms of vaccination, said the minister, who also underlined the work being done by the Spanish Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency (Spanish acronym: AEMPS) to facilitate the arrival and distribution of vaccines to the autonomous regions and cities.

The restrictions are starting to show results

The Minister for Health expressed "maximum caution" when assessing the results that are starting to show from the application of more restrictive measures by the regional government authorities; measures, she said, that are contained in the strategy drawn up by the plenary session of the Inter-regional National Health System Council of which they form part as delegate authorities.

Along the same lines, Carolina Darias highlighted the importance of implementing each and every one of the measures contained in both the decree governing the state of emergency and the State Strategy approved at the CISNS to stop the spread of COVID-19.

She also said that these figures reflect "the very early stages" of an improvement, leading to all CISNS members reaffirming their attitude of maximum vigilance regarding the current data on Cumulative Incidence and ICU occupation in all territories.

In this regard, Carolina Darias highlighted the great strength against coronavirus being shown by the Spanish National Health System, the healthcare professionals and the healthcare network in the country; strength that will allow progress on the Vaccination Strategy and ensure that the number of people vaccinated continues to grow and overshadow the number of people infected.

Goal: to achieve community resilience

The Minister for Health said that the target is to achieve community resilience, something she insisted can only be achieved "if we persevere with our goals and continue to strengthen our collaboration".

In this regard, she reiterated the importance of continuing to practice a prevention culture and the so-called "6M" measures, which are "tough but effective".

"We have to focus on what each one of us can do to prevent the virus from spreading", said Carolina Darias, who again asked for everyone in society to do their bit "to put an end to this virus". "Acting responsibly is fundamental", stressed the minister.

Statistics on the use of the "Radar COVID" app

In turn, the State Secretary for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence shared data on trends in the penetration and use of the "Radar COVID" mobile app at the Inter-regional National Health System Council earlier today, at both a State-wide level and within each of the autonomous regions.

By publishing these reports, which will be available from tomorrow on the radarcovid.es website, the Government of Spain is offering the autonomous regions and cities a fundamental tool to help streamline operation of the app based on statistics, and also asks for their essential collaboration through this exercise in transparency with the public.

Non official translation