Spain to start vaccinations against Covid-19 on Dec 27: Health minister

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Friday that vaccinations against COVID-19 will begin in Spain on December 27.

The first vaccinations will be using the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine, with the first doses arriving in Spain on December 26.

"If Europe has agreed that vaccination begins in a coordinated manner, in Spain we are going to start the first possible day," Illa said at a press conference.

The health minister said that he is waiting for European authorities to confirm the number of doses that Spain will receive, but promised that it will be "an equitable distribution."

Illa also expressed his hope that around "20 million citizens" will have been inoculated by May or June.

"This means the start of the end of the pandemic, it is not the end of the pandemic, we will have to keep our guard up, but it is the start of the end," said the minister.