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MADRID, April 6 (Reuters) - Spain is accelerating
vaccination against COVID-19 and will fully vaccinate 25 million
people by late July, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on
Tuesday, also confirming the end-August target of inoculating
70% of all Spaniards.
"The pace of vaccination will accelerate in April and then
each month we will improve the vaccination pace from the
previous month," Sanchez told a news conference, attributing a
slow start of the campaign to delivery delays by vaccine maker
Astrazeneca across the European Union.
The July target covers 53% of Spain's 47 million-strong
population.
Sanchez said the number of those fully vaccinated will
surpass the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases, which on Monday
stood at 3.3 million, by next week.
The government's aim is not to extend a state of emergency,
which expires on May 9 after being in force for six months, if
the epidemiological numbers allow, he added.
The country will receive 87 million vaccine doses between
April and September, Sanchez said, with second-quarter delivery
volumes expected to exceed the January-March level by 3.5 times.
In the third quarter alone, Spain should take delivery of 48
million doses.
Data released on Monday showed around 5.7 million people had
received at least one shot, while 2.8 million had received a
full course of two doses.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Belen Carreno, Nathan Allen, Aida
Pelaez-Fernandez, editing by Andrei Khalip)
