Madrid may shut down mass vaccination centres unless more shots arrive

MADRID: A shortage of coronavirus shots may force the Madrid region to close down mass vaccination centres next week, the regional public health chief said on Friday, even as infections in the Spanish capital outpace the national average.

Madrid, whose administration has long been at loggerheads with the central government on the pandemic response, administers around 275,000 shots per week, but is due to receive just 157,900 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine next week, Antonio Zapatero told reporters. "If this situation continues we'll have to close the mass vaccination centres," he said. "Without vaccines, there is no point in having such a big operation."