This morning, the Associated Press reported that Madrid would stop vaccinations in the city today so medical staff could rest over the Easter holiday.
Health Minister Carlolina Darias’ said last week that it was “very important” to keep inoculating citizens. As Spain enters a high risk situation, there are fears over a fourth coronavirus wave because the country “has now surpassed what authorities consider the high-risk threshold of 150 infections per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days.”
Despite my Catholic upbringing and appreciation and respect for the religion, I find it concerning that the city will stop vaccinating residents for four days. Now don’t get me wrong, I will celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday with my family this weekend like a devout Catholic. But, it just so happens that my second-dose appointment for the vaccine is on Good Friday (and I plan on showing up for my appointment).
My concerns about Madrid halting vaccine distribution is that it could potentially lead to a decrease in vaccine efficiency if people miss their time frame for the second dose in addition to the fact that the country is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.
According to Regional health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Madrid set a new record of daily COVID-19 vaccinations at almost 35,000. This is great news for Madrid, but that means 140,000 (35,000 x 4) shots won’t be distributed over the next four days due to the Easter break.
Spain's deep Catholic roots are still prevalent today. According to a 2018 Pew Research study, a majority of the country (60%) still identifies as Catholic. But despite this religious demographic, I find it hard to believe that an entire region could stop vaccinations for four days based on a religious holiday, when the country had the fourth highest death rate per million people as of December 2020.
Acacia Gabriel’s blog “2020 and the Rise of Spirituality” explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in spirituality but not religion. This resonates with me personally because I have not attended Mass since March 2020. That being said, I find myself more devoted to a spiritual routine rather than the pillars of Catholicism.
Even though I am attending a COVID-friendly outdoor service on Sunday (55 people all wearing masks and social distancing), I don’t think the holiday is an excuse to stop city vaccination efforts for four days. I recognize that a majority of Spaniards identify as Catholic, but that neglects about 40% of the population.
Thankfully, Madrid's city hospital and stadium will be open over the holiday for vaccine distribution (but I don't know if this is enough to curtail more outbreaks). So, let’s hope that the only thing that rises this weekend is the Lord and not COVID-19 cases…
Great title hahaha. I will say that a lot of your points are aligned with my own thinking. When I started reading it I thought I may be getting ready to get in a fight with you, but nope you stuck to my opinion. This is dangerous, straight up, no way around it. I hate when things get in the way of ending the pandemic. This should be the top priority of the entire world right now. Religion is important, I love being Jewish and following customs, but If there was a conflict, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to pick my health, and more importantly the communities health, over a religious hold up. And I realize some people take…
Totally agree with your point. While there may not be a huge difference in the number of people that get covid due to the latency in vaccination, given the time difference between the efficacy of the vaccine and the spread of COVID at that moment in time, the very idea of letting something like religion come in the way of the health of the citizens of the country is scary and sets a bad precedent in a supposedly secular country.
The topic of religion and COVID-19 is a matter that has caused me to tread lightly during the pandemic, especially because I don’t consider myself a religious person. Without enough people vaccinated, it will be challenging to achieve herd immunity by the end of this year. However, we cannot force those who will and have refused the vaccine due to religious purposes. While I agree with the concerns you brought up regarding the vaccination halt, I don’t think it will significantly affect vaccine efficacy. You don’t need to get the second dose precisely 21 or 28 days after the first vaccination. In fact, “the CDC recommends the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines should be administered up to…
While I understand your concern with regard to the impact on Covid cases, this four day break may actually do more good than we may realize. Moral has definitely been down among the medical community and there has been an increase in levels of depression and suicidal tendencies, Not only is this four day period a much needed break for these medical workers, but this may be an opportunity for them to rekindle their faith and boost moral. In a primarily Catholic country like Spain this may be more of a necessity than it would be in a more secular country like the US.
I was so glad to be mentioned in this post! I also loved the clever use of the term "risen" in the title and the closing sentence. This is definitely a topic that speaks to me because COVID also awakened my spiritual interests. Like I mentioned in my blog post, people were looking for something to believe in while the world around them was uncertain and scary. While religion is a powerful way to escape reality, it also can go too far. I think it's interesting that you brought up Spain and Easter. I had not heard of this instance specifically, but it is a great example of how religion can veer too far away from reality and have very…