High take-up reported for Covid vaccinations
ONLY 1.8% of people offered a jab against Covid-19 in the Valencia region have turned it down, reported the department for health.
A spokesman said this low figure showed that the message about the importance of getting vaccinated had hit home amongst the sectors of the population who are being offered the jab – particularly healthcare professionals and people who work in the care homes sector.
He noted that the principal goal of vaccination is to prevent people contracting coronavirus and also to reduce the seriousness of infection if a person catches the disease.
“The jab protects the person who has been inoculated and, in an indirect way, the rest of the population as well because as more people are vaccinated, then the probability that vulnerable people will come into contact with the virus diminishes,” he said.
The spokesman reminded that the jab is free and not obligatory, but ‘very recommendable in order to reduce the impact of the pandemic’.
He added that at the moment the three vaccines which have been approved – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – ‘have shown in clinical trials that they are effective in preventing the virus, as well as being safe’.
The regional health department noted that vaccines are not recommended for some sectors of the population.
However, they are ‘evaluating the pros and cons’ for pregnant women who have a high risk of exposure to the virus.
The spokesman added that reinfection for people who have already suffered Covid-19 is ‘an exception’ during the following six months but they are offering an inoculation to everyone in the priority groups ‘without discriminating if they have already suffered the virus’.
On Wednesday the regional government noted that they have administered 352,352 jabs, with 126,067 in Alicante province.
A total of 106,455 people have had both of the required doses.
The inoculation of emergency services personnel started this week with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Local police forces have been vaccinated along with members of the state security forces.