All professionals and businessmen agree: the salvation of tourism passes through the vaccination of a high percentage of the population. The objective of the Government, which remains intact despite the non-compliance of pharmaceutical companies, is that 70% of the population is immunized in summer. But to achieve a certain tourist normality, according to the Executive itself, it would serve to reach percentages of between 30% and 40%, which are expected to reach this spring (Spain: this is the calendar to activate tourism).
The current vaccination levels, although still far from what was expected at the beginning of the year, are starting to be somewhat more encouraging. The communities surpassed the barrier of seven million administered doses on Thursday, with more than 2.5 million people with the double dose (5.3% of the population) and two million with the first (4.3%). That is, about 10% of residents in Spain, exactly 9.6%, have received at least one dose (Vaccine works: US recovers at breakneck pace).
Beyond this figure, what is really important is that the vaccination rate closes this Friday with a new weekly record. On average, 153,430 daily vaccinations have been administered, an upward trend that would have been influenced by the restart of vaccination with the AstraZeneca antidote.
At the current rate, it would take 13 months to vaccinate 70% of the population, although the incorporation of the Janssen, CureVac and Novavax formulas (the last two are expected to be approved in April or May), as well as the greater volume of those of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca will bring about a progressive increase in the rate of inoculation.
In addition, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has ensured that the European Union will deliver to Spain “what it needs”, in reference to vaccines, so that it meets the objective of achieving group immunity this summer.
To date, of the five autonomous communities with the highest tourism GDP, Andalusia leads the vaccination process with 1.3 million doses administered (90.4% of those received) and 5.77% of the population with the full guideline. They are followed by Catalonia and the Valencian Community with respective percentages of 5.20% and 4.74%. The Canary Islands are in fourth place with 4.22%, while the Balearic Islands are at the bottom with 3.24%. All of them are far behind communities such as Asturias, Castilla y León and Cantabria, with rates of 7.77%, 7.50% and 7.24%, respectively.
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