Spain confident on vaccination targets despite J&J suspension

Spain is confident it can maintain its current vaccination targets despite a U.S. suspension of the Johnson & Johnson shot and delays to its European rollout over clotting concerns, Industry Minister Reyes Maroto said on Wednesday. Spain received an initial delivery of 300,000 doses of the single-shot drug on Wednesday, which the Health Ministry said would be kept in storage pending new guidance from the European Medicines Agency, expected next week.

Spain is confident it can maintain its current vaccination targets despite a U.S. suspension of the Johnson & Johnson shot and delays to its European rollout over clotting concerns, Industry Minister Reyes Maroto said on Wednesday.

Spain received an initial delivery of 300,000 doses of the single-shot drug on Wednesday, which the Health Ministry said would be kept in storage pending new guidance from the European Medicines Agency, expected next week. The Netherlands adopted a similar stance, while France has decided to push ahead with administering the drug.

"Stopping the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine creates uncertainty, but we are confident the volume of vaccines Spain is due to receive allows us to be optimistic about hitting our objectives," Reyes told a conference. Spain aims to have half its population of 47 million fully inoculated by the end of July, and 70% by the end of summer. So far around 6.7% have been fully inoculated.

U.S. health agencies on Tuesday recommended suspending the vaccine after six women under 50 developed rare blood clots. J&J subsequently announced it would push back the European deployment of the shot, which it began delivering within the EU on Monday. Accelerating the vaccination campaign has become increasingly urgent as Spain's national infection rate continues to creep higher.

On Wednesday the rate as measured over the preceding 14 days exceeded 200 cases per 100,000 people for the first time since late February. The Health Ministry reported 10,474 new cases, bringing the overall tally to 3.39 million, while the death toll climbed by 131 to 76,756.