Care home residents and workers to get vaccine by January 6

The Catalan health department expects to have administered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in all of Catalonia's 1,408 care homes within ten days.

The rollout, if all goes as planned, will begin on December 27, and the government believes that 100,000 care home workers and residents will have received the first dose of the jab by January 6.

A senior health official, Carmen Cabezas, said on Tuesday that this is part of a first phase that also includes health professionals, people who need day-to-day assistance and have a recognized grade 3 disability, as well as their carers.

All in all, this phase should be completed by March 2021, covering around 450,000 people by providing 900,000 doses.

Some 500 nurses in 26 teams begin administering the vaccine across Catalonia this Sunday.

The doses will be transported in refrigerated equipment to the vaccination points.

Deadly outbreak in Tremp care home

The government is prioritizing care homes as they have proven to be the most fragile front in the fight against Covid-19 since March.

One of the latest examples of the struggle in such centers is the outbreak recently detected in the Fiella nursing home in Tremp, in the western Catalan Pyrenees.

So far 61 residents have died and the prosecutor opened an investigation on Tuesday into the managers of the center for possible involuntary manslaughter and the existence of occupational safety hazards.

With 150 residents, the death toll is now at 37%, something that the prosecutor believes is far too high.
In addition to this, 42 out of the 65 staff members have also been diagnosed.

According to reports authorities sent to the prosecutor, "important organizational failures" have been detected.