Covid-19 vaccines for children in Spain: How the process will work, region by region

This coming Monday, Spain’s autonomous regions will begin to receive the first doses of the pediatric Covid-19 vaccine, which will be used to inoculate the 3.3 million children aged between five and 11 who live in Spain.

After a campaign that began last December, and has so far seen more than 77.5 million vaccine doses administered to the adult population, the mechanisms for this process are already well oiled. Some of the regions will use mass-vaccination sites for children, while others will stick to hospitals and other medical centers. At least three of Spain’s territories – which are in charge of their healthcare systems, coronavirus restrictions and vaccination programs – will be using schools to administer the vaccines. These are Valencia, Extremadura and La Rioja.

Most of the country’s regions are planning to begin the process on December 15. As was the case with other minors who have already been vaccinated, parental permission will be required, and in most of Spain, a prior appointment will have to be secured.

The central Health Ministry is planning to distribute 1.2 million of these doses during the month of December, with another two million to come in January. These deliveries will be sufficient for the first injection for practically all of the children in Spain in this age group. They will be given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but in a smaller dosage than that already administered to adults and teenagers in Spain. Eight weeks after the first dose they will be given the second, with these second doses due to be delivered to Spain from February onward.

The initial proposal is for the regions to start with vulnerable children and the oldest from the group. But unlike when the vaccination campaign began nearly a year ago, focussing on seniors, there is not an urgent need to inoculate youngsters, nor are there major differences in the risk posed to them by Covid-19 according to age. As such, the Health Ministry is taking a flexible stance and will allow the regions to take an approach that they consider optimum to complete the process over the coming months.

EL PAÍS has asked Spain’s 17 regions how they will approach this new phase of the campaign. All, apart from the Balearic Islands and Castilla-La Mancha, have already decided how to proceed.

Andalusia

In Andalusia, vaccination of children will begin on December 15 for those aged between nine and 11, and the target age will fall progressively after that. The regional government is going to vaccinate this group in healthcare centers and the mobile units currently being used to administer doses to unvaccinated adults. Only in rural areas will schools be used for the process, according to the regional health chief – school nurses will advise parents as to when it’s their children’s turn. Otherwise, parents will be able to request appointments from next Monday.

Aragón, Asturias and Cantabria

The vaccination of this age group will take place in healthcare centers in these three regions.

Basque Country

Vaccination in the Basque Country region will take place in healthcare centers and other vaccination points. Schools will not be used, according to the health service, given that minors will have to be accompanied by a parent when getting their shots.

Canary Islands

The Canaries’ regional health authorities will use the mass-vaccination centers they have been using for adults, as well as primary healthcare centers. They are also considering including schools as venues for the campaign.

Castilla y León

This region will use mass-vaccination sites as well as assigning appointments at healthcare centers.

Catalonia

The regional health department is planning to offer appointments to all ages in this group at the same time. The Catalan government has opted not to start with older children and work backwards in order to “speed up the process,” according to the public health secretary, Carmen Cabezas. The vaccinations will not be administered in schools in Catalonia but rather in the regular sites used up until now.

Extremadura

The region will vaccinate children in schools. It will start with those aged nine to 11, and then progressively move down through the ages, finishing with those aged five.

Galicia

In Galicia, the public health service will send out appointments for children at mass-vaccination sites. The campaign will focus first on those at high risk, such as cancer patients, and then the remainder will be called from oldest first to youngest last.

Madrid

On Monday, Madrid will receive 204,000 doses for children aged five to 11, and will begin administering them from December 15 via authorization in hospitals. The regional strategy will start with 11-year-olds and then move on to progressively younger ages. The regional health chief is due to announce more details today, Friday, but for now has explained that siblings will be allowed to get vaccinated at the same time.

Murcia

The Murcia region will be using mass-vaccination points for minors, and the process will be based on age groups. From December 15, those aged eight to 11 will be called upon. They will have to attend accompanied by their parents or guardians, according to the regional health chief, Juan José Pedreño. Over the coming days, he added, people will be able to request appointments via the murciasalud.es website, which will include all the information of the vaccination sites in each area.

Navarre

The regional health department will begin vaccinating the under-12s from December 15 in elementary schools in rural areas, and from December 16 will centralize the process in Pamplona, at the Reina Sofía Hospital in Tudela and at the García Orcoyen Hospital in Estella.

La Rioja

The region will opt for schools as the main vaccination sites. From Friday, parents will receive a letter they can sign to grant their consent for the injections.

Valencia

In the Valencia region, the vaccinations will be administered in schools – in the mornings, and during regular academic hours. The first phase will include special education schools and children with suppressed immune systems. Then the process will go by age, beginning with those aged 11 to nine. The ages will then fall progressively, until the entire group of 330,000 children has been inoculated.