Covid vaccine

Hi there,

Please have a read of the following news articles

1) The Local
2) EL PAIS

There also have been many delays across the EU with the vaccine. It would seem the UK is the frontrunner on giving it out, but of course its no longer in the EU.

I hope that helps

SimCityAT
Expat Team

Wonderful, thank you so much this is exactly the info I,ve been looking for!

After reading the articles recommended by SimCityAT I have another question: was anyone among the expats with private insurance successful in their attempt to register for the vaccine with the local clinic? We weren´t, no one knows what we are talking about.... So, please share your experience if you succeeded to register. Thanks!

Hello Cristina,
We are just under 70 years old, from Ireland, retired in Spain, but signed up in our local health centre just now, and got what we believe to be the necessary clearance and documentation so we are in the system; it seems Spain is vaccinating everyone, regardless of origin:

We brought a written document stating:
Nos gustaría inscribirnos en el sistema sanitaria;
Giving our address;
Mobile phone numbers
we brought along our most recently obtained Empadronimientos,
our Irish passports, and our EHIC cards (European health insurance cards) that have our Irish social security numbers, and copies of all these documents/cards were made

I understand from other expats that they phone the person's mobile a day in advance of the clinic appointment to receive the vaccine (Expats attended the clinic in the local town at the arranged time; locals were visited in their home for vaccination in our village directly)

They have provided us with a Junta de Andalucia Consejera de Salud y Familias docoment that's valid for the next two years; we understand they will phone us when our turn comes, and we'll need to pay attention when they say where to go for the vaccine,  closer village health centres were named as well.
I hope this helps!

Thank you for your reply Cecilyann.  I think the key element in your case was the EHIC card which we as Americans don´t have. So happy that it worked out for you, good luck with the vaccine!

Thanks! I mentioned the EHIC card as it has our social security / public services number, which allows the authorities here to identify us;

My impression is that the authorities here are very keen to vaccinate EVERYONE, so perhaps if you try again, with the written request, giving whatever papers that you have, including your US social security data, they might agree to include you anyway?

As for the written request:
There was a bit of eyerolling from one person... who passed the request onto the other; they prefer I think to have a request in writing, with all the information, as this was looked at through their plexiglass screen (pushing it under the screen was frowned on at first) The second person donned gloves and accepted the documentation then, no problem.

In case you might have missed this link, it seems like very reliable information: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-sty … -1.4465085

Additionally, the pharmacist here in the village explained that blood oxygen levels between 95 and 100% are regarded as normal; from 95 to 92% require keen observation and oxygen levels falling to below 92% becomes critical and needing medical attention/ hospitalisation, because the heart works even harder to compensate for the reduced oxygen presence.

All in all, I find the Spanish health system superb, and experienced their care directly when hospitalised a few years ago and since. Xrays taken here in the privately insured healthcare system have shown up issues that had gone unresolved, or undetected, in Ireland and in the UK too. 

In any case, thank you for your good wishes, and I hope everything works out for you to be free from the virus, and to stay safe!

I also have questions about how you get on the public health system list here.  I’m an American in Seville, resident since 2017, retired, and have been using a private health service exclusively.  Trying to get info is very hard - I have been to my local center, the central salud office here, and others, but have yet to find out how they intend to notify me when it’s my turn- I’m 71 and healthy, so I’m not trying to jump the line, but that seems to be the response I get.  I only want to be on the public system list for the purpose of notification for the vaccine - I’m quite happy with my private coverage and treatment.

I learned early to be patient when trying to get something done in Spain, but this has been a drag.  It tries the patience.

Hello You're right, in saying information isn't readily available, but we can figure out from what information we get:

We figured out that they would phone us because expats over 80 have been phoned the day before, and locals were phoned the day before too.

We figured that we needed to be registered in the Spanish health system for them to have our details and our phone numbers too. And friends from the UK had gotten health system cards.

The expat over 80 was from the UK, and had to go through the Social Security offices in Almeria to register, and to get their health cards. I presume because being from the UK the health agreements they would have whilst in the EU still hold even after Brexit...
We are irish, and haven't worked in Spain, as such haven't been seen as entitled to free healthcare here in Spain, as yet. The document we have to show that we are registered with the the local healthcare centre is a temporary one. Not a card. We too have private healthcare insurance that we are very pleased with.

So, if you are in some way know to them, registered as living there or in the care of their particular health centre, and if they have your phone number, I presume that's how they would get in touch perhaps?

Our friend from the UK wanted to know if we asked when vaccination would happen for our group, but we didn't ask. I get the feeling is that rollout is happening as quickly as possibe, and when one group gets the first shot, they move on to the next.

On communicating, asking questions, and getting help:

I agree it can be a bit of a mystery.... and watching someone's jaw drop when they feel under pressure and don't know what I'm trying to ask about can be funny at times...

We had misunderstood the oft cited manana attitude here after ordering windows during a glass shortage, and the family firm obliged in making them available just before Christmas by opening on a Saturday, but we sauntered in hours late....

Differences in culture and attitudes can seem insurmpuntable....

But overall, I've lived in France from time to time and have lived here for about 15 years more or less, and everywhere, to my surprise even over the phone when trying to ask someone for technical help, and not always having the right words to say,  a smile really helps!!!! If I could have measured the decrease in stress on the secretary's face in our local Ayuntamiento, or the increased response time experienced when looking for a person to fix our phone in France, I'd offer these in evidence!

In short, everyone means well, and as to when it's going to happen, everyone's doing their best.

We've also noticed that medical personnel don't tend to speak in English, possibly in case of mistakes being made. This is a legitimate issue: I misunderstood when being told that I was being brought to surgery, thinking it was for an exam, as the consultant was going to see me there... it was for an op, and I'd eaten... they delayed surgery for a few days!!! Good luck!

Be glad we are heard