Barcelona, Jan 16 (AP) Spain's health minister said Saturday that his government is standing by its pledge to vaccinate a large part of its population by the summer despite the delay in the distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Minister Salvador Illa said that even though Spain will only receive 56% of the expected doses next week from Pfizer, Spains vaccination program has reached “cruising speed.”

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Friday it will temporarily reduce deliveries to European countries of its COVID-19 vaccine while it upgrades production capacity.

Illa said that despite this hiccup “there is no change to our supply calendar. Between now and the summer we will ensure that 70% of Spaniards receive the vaccine.”

He said that the following week the allotment of the Pfizer-BioNTech should return to 100 per cent of the expected amount.

Spain has administered 768.000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It is also rolling out the Moderna vaccine, with fewer than 500 doses administered so far.

Spain reported 49,197 new cases on Friday, its highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic. (AP)

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