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Catalonia to give Covid vaccine to teenagers and adults under 40 in July 

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Catalonia to give Covid vaccine to teenagers and adults under 40 in July 
A teenager receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Clalit Health Services, in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 23, 2021. - Israel began administering novel coronavirus vaccines to teenagers as it pushed ahead with its inoculation drive, with a quarter of the population now vaccinated, health officials said. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Health authorities in Catalonia have announced that they plan to vaccinate their population between the ages of 16 and 39 in July, the first region in Spain to provide a vaccination time frame for its younger adults. 

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The head of the region’s Covid vaccination programme Carmen Cabezas made the announcement on Thursday morning during an interview with local radio station RAC1, suggesting that those aged 16 to 39 could receive the vaccine 3 to 4 weeks after the 40 to 50 age group. 

According to Cabezas, who is also the deputy director of Catalonia’s Health Promotion Department, the rate of inoculation is expected to increase “mid June” whilst those aged 40 to 49 are getting the vaccine. That’s as long as there aren’t further delays with the vaccine deliveries, she clarified.

Catalan health authorities have not yet revealed which vaccines it will give to the 16 to 39 year olds or the 40 to 49s. 

Cabezas added that her department had chosen to offer the vaccine to those as young as 16, as is the case in the United States or Israel, because the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use on people of that age and above. 

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So far, Spain’s national Health Ministry has only offered a vaccine schedule for those aged 50 and above, making Catalonia the first region to announce plans for younger adults and teenagers. 

Only some Spanish regions have started vaccinating under 60s however.

Health authorities across the country are currently focusing their efforts on giving the first dose to their 12 million over 60s in May, and the second dose to those in the older age groups.

More than 6 million people out of Spain’s population of 47 million have now received full vaccine immunisation. 

Twenty-nine percent of the population has received at least one dose. 

“We are just 100 days from achieving group immunity,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday. 

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