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The beginning of the vaccination process in Spain marks "the beginning of the end" of the pandemic, but let no one relax, "because this is not over. We must keep our guard up, prudence and protective measures."

One of lime and another of sand.

This is how the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, has certified this Sunday the implementation of a strategy that begins with the arrival of the

9,750 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to all communities

.

At 9:00 in the morning, "minute up, minute down", the process began "with the vaccination of Araceli and Mónica, a resident and a worker at the Los Olmos residence," Illa recalled. hence, "the vaccination is already underway in all the autonomous regions, except in the Canary Islands, which will do so at 2:00 p.m., and the Balearic Islands, which will begin at 4:00 p.m.".

But this is only the first step.

"The beginning is the vaccine and the end of the process is to immunize the entire population and defeat the virus and then reactivate the economy

.

"

This sequence has a first stage of 12 weeks that - the minister recalled - will be substantiated with the sending of 5,591,275 doses to all the autonomies to immunize

2,295,638 Spaniards

in that period

.

From there, the roadmap is known, and Illa has repeated it again today: "The objective, which remains, is that around May or June around 15 or 20 million people have been immunized and that after the summer that number is significantly higher. "

The minister has emphasized that the achievement of this strategy is possible "thanks to the implementation of a

human, logistical and health

challenge

of enormous complexity

, unprecedented in the history of Humanity", and as an example of this challenge has remembered the thousands of volunteers who have participated in the previous trials of the vaccine that ordinary citizens receive today.

"Almost a million people have taken previous doses of the Pfizer vaccine in trials that have been conducted around the world to ensure that today, Araceli and Mónica, receive their respective doses with all possible safety guarantees."

And that, the fact that the doses injected into both are only the first, is another example, according to Illa, that the process that begins today is long and arduous: "The first vaccinated today in Guadalajara will receive a second doses within 21 days and only 7 days after this second dose -that is, 28 days from today- will be immunized against the virus, so that both they and all those who receive the vaccine should

continue to take extreme measures of caution in the next few days

. "

"Fundamental role" of the CCAA

From the Government Delegation in Catalonia, where he has spoken for all of Spain, the minister has expressly thanked "science and industry, for their commendable work and their delivery in record time";

to all the institutions that have worked in this process, especially the Spanish and European Medicines agencies, and to the staff of the Government of Spain, "but also, and especially, to all the autonomous communities. I think it is a key day for to emphasize the fundamental role of all communities in this process, since last September 22 we began the work of the Vaccination Plan. "

So far, the congratulations.

But on a day of celebration there has also been a space to remember the negative, and that is embodied by the

"worrying upward trend"

that has been observed in the data of many communities since last week.

"After 8 or 9 weeks with a decrease in almost all the parameters, from the cumulative incidence, to the hospitalized or the deceased, the trend has been reversed again for a few days."

And the analysis made by the Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Center directed by Fernando Simón of this reversal of the trend has, according to Illa, a very clear explanation.

"The relaxation of the protection measures detected especially in the week of December 4 to 9, a relaxation that, now, forces several autonomies to adopt new measures or reinforce existing ones."

The minister has expressly cited Extremadura and Madrid as an example of autonomies that yesterday announced new measures, "but in the coming days there will surely be new announcements, because we cannot allow the joys of these holidays to become the weeping of the Day of Kings".

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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