Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S Health Ministry is set to allow Pfizer vaccinations for around two million ‘essential’ workers like police, teachers, and fire-fighters who have got just one AstraZeneca jab.
A ‘Combivacs’ study by the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid has concluded that getting a second Pfizer dose on the back of an AstraZeneca injection produces a 40 times higher production of antibodies within seven days to a fortnight.
The survey says that the overall protective response is seven times stronger compared to two AstraZeneca inoculations and does not produce any serious side-effects.
The study’s results are the same as similar surveys by Oxford University and French health officials.
Spain paused second AstraZeneca injections to around two million people aged under 60 in early April after around 200 blood cases were noted around Europe.
Those were mainly among women aged between 18 and 48.
The Public Health Commission meets this afternoon(May 18) and is expected to announce a programme of second jabs of the Pfizer vaccine to essential workers.
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden are already administering other branded vaccines to people who had AstraZeneca as their first injection.
Supplies of the Pfizer vaccine in Spain are substantial, while new shipments of the AstraZeneca doses have virtually ground to a halt.
There are some supplies in cold storage that are set to be used for second doses for people in their sixties.
The EU announced earlier this month that they were not planning to renew their contract with AstraZeneca when it expires in June.
READ MORE CHECK WHEN YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO GET YOUR COVID JABS IN SPAIN
UP TO A QUARTER OF PEOPLE AGED IN THEIR SIXTIES IN ANDALUCIA REJECT ASTRAZENECA FIRST DOSE
