Spain says 83,000 people have received Pfizer’s Covid vaccine

Spain has administered nearly 83,000 doses of the Pfizer Inc. Covid-19 vaccine since Dec. 27, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said.

Spain expects to receive about 350,000 doses per week during the next several months, which would allow authorities to give around 4.5 million people a shot by the end of March, Illa said in a televised briefing on Monday. Spain has a population of around 47 million.

The speed of Spain’s vaccination efforts will be key to ensuring a swift bounce-back in the Spanish economy, which likely contracted more sharply than most developed countries last year.

Covid-19 infections have been rising in Spain over the holiday season, hitting a record number of cases at the end of the year.

Spain registered a decline on Monday, but Illa cautioned that the decrease was due to reporting delays during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. He said to expect an increase in cases in coming days.

Spain’s restrictions have been less stringent than in some other major European countries in recent months. Restaurants and bars, for instance, have remained open in many Spanish regions.

But rising cases have forced some regions, such as Catalonia, to re-impose limitations at the start of 2021.