Ministry of Health confirms that coronavirus vaccines will be annual

The Minister of Health for Spain, Carolina Darias, confirmed in an interview yesterday (Friday) that "everything indicates that a third booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccines will be necessary”, although at this stage she acknowledged that it has not yet been determined when this will begin to be administered.

In the interview with Onda Cero, Darias explained that the Government has signed contracts for 1.8 billion euros with Pfizer and 480 million with Moderna to receive doses of vaccines in 2022 and 2023, which are for third doses and then annual boosters.

In this sense, she was direct with her answer after being asked whether citizens and residents of Spain will have to be vaccinated every year: "Yes, without a doubt," she explained, and then insisted that now the objective is "to continue vaccinating everyone until reaching 100% of the population”.

When asked about criticism from Madrid about the "chaotic" vaccination process and requesting more vials, Darias defended it by saying that the Ministry had made it clear to all of the autonomous communities how many doses they were going to receive, after making projections with them based on size and demographic of their population.

The Minister concluded by highlighting the "excellent work on vaccination by all the autonomous regions”, and recognized that most territories "have planned excellently and done really well", adding that the figure of more than 50% of the national population already immunized, are a “collective success for the country".