It is four o’clock in the afternoon and dozens of Ibiza residents of all ages and displaced workers from other communities are waiting at the fairgrounds to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The queue is “twice as long as the previous afternoon’s”, according to security staff. In addition, in the morning, 68 people had already been vaccinated with no prior appointment at the Santa Eulària and Sant Antoni health centres between 11am and 1.30pm. It is the first day of walk-in vaccinations in Ibiza and the response has been “incredible”, says the vaccination coordinator, Encarna García.
The vaccination coordinator loads a vial with the antidote M.P.S
“Most people arriving today for a walk-in vaccination are residents and displaced workers who, after several weeks of trying, were not able to get an appointment on the Health website, BitCita ,” explains Garcia. “However, from now on, we’re using their DNI to create a fast-track way for them to get the vaccine”, she explains. With regards to the scheduled doses, Garcia says that “we are going blind”. “Today we had 400 scheduled appointments and we didn’t think so many walk-ins would show up,” the nurse says as she loads one of the vials. “I’m picking up the pace to load more doses because we didn’t have enough with those we had ready,” says Garcia.
Núria and Marina, who are in Ibiza on their way, have not been able to get vaccinated M.P.S
The coordinator also encourages everyone to get vaccinated. “The more vaccinations, the better for all of us as a community. That way we can achieve group immunisation sooner”, she concludes. “There are a lot of confused people on holiday on the island who come thinking they can get vaccinated. If they are not residents or displaced workers they can’t get vaccinated here,” says Francisco, a security worker at the site. This is the case of Nuria and Marina, two Valencian women who are on holiday at their grandparents’ house and for this reason have not been able to get vaccinated. “In Valencia they have been vaccinating people our age for some time and we wanted to try our luck, but it wasn’t possible,” says Marina. Nuria explains that, for her, it is important to have at least one dose. “We’re staying with our grandparents, who are 90 years old, and with the vaccine we would feel a little more relaxed,” says the young woman.