Puig confirms that vaccination for over 30s will begin in July
The President said that next Monday he will meet with the UK Ambassador to talk about allowing British tourists to the region.
Thursday 20th July 2021 – PRESS RELEASE with Mike Smith
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, has announced that the vaccination of people over 30 years of age will begin in July and that the process of immunization of the citizens of the Comunidad Valenciana will continue uninterrupted over the summer period.
Puig also announced that he will be meeting the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Madrid next Monday to speak about finding an agreement that will allow the arrival of British tourist into the Comunidad Valenciana. “We have an infection rate of 29.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and have had two months with the least impact in Spain”, adding that the region is at the low risk level. he said that it is essential that the UK looks at the Comunidad Valenciana as a region, compared to the decision of the British Government to consider Spain as a single territory which has a much higher average infection rate.
The president said that the region’s vaccination campaign has reached “cruising speed” which means that everyone over 80 years of age and 65% of those in the 70-79 age group have been fully immunized. In addition, all those over the age of 60 should have received their first dose by next week whilst the vaccination of the over-50s has begun, which is projected to end on June 15th. On June 17th, those in the 40-49 age group will begin to receive their jabs, whilst those over 30 will start the process in July.
Green Digital Certificate
The president also referred to the importance of promoting the EU’s green digital certificate that will certify that anyone who has been vaccinated, tested and recovered from the disease can move around Europe without restrictions, such as quarantine or new testing.
Puig will be attending FITUR this Friday where there will be a presentation of this certificate and will convey the capacity of the Comunidad Valenciana to begin issuing this documentation with the objective that Valencian citizens can travel without obstacles.
He said that “the offensive against the pandemic, together with compliance with restrictions by the Valencian people, has made it possible to position the Comunidad Valenciana as the region in Spain and Europe with the lowest infection rate of the disease”.
He added that vaccination is the greatest asset for economic recovery. “The way to revive the economy is to overcome the pandemic … saving lives is saving the economy … dissociating [the two] would be true nonsense”.
Leadership of Economic Recovery
The president has stated that the Comunidad Valenciana is in a position to lead the economic recovery of Spain, something for which the regional government is acting in two basic areas, such as direct aid and the management of European funding.
With regards to direct aid, he said that “from the outset, our companies, self-employed, and employees have had the support of the Generalitat Valenciana with the largest aid package in Spain. In 2020, some 223 million euros worth of direct aid was made available; this year, more than 400 million euros has been put aside to fund the Plan RESISTIR initiative, of which more than 50% has already been allocated and, before the end of June, the rest will be paid. Now, with the Plan RESISTIR PLUS programme, 647 million euros is made available for direct aid.
The president also noted that the Government has allocated directly to the Comunidad Valencian to strengthen the social shield and help companies, allocated some 4.1 billion euros between 2020 and 2021 aimed at ERTE, self-employed and minimum vital income assurances as well as 12.2 billion euros for the ICO, between guarantees and loans to Valencian companies. “These are neither futures nor bets, but realities that will help Valencian society and Spanish society to overcome the pandemic and face recovery”.
Finally, Puig referred to the 10th anniversary of March 15th and claimed that the management of the regional government, with its objectives for economic repair and social reconstruction and rebirth, has managed to respond to the demands made by this movement with the improvements introduced in the fields of health, education, and social protection.
He indicated that “one of the objectives was to return money stolen by corrupt plots to the Valencian people” for which a recovery unit was created. “So far, we have recovered 7 million euros but, after the last sentence of the National Courts, we will reach 10 million euros of public money.”
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