The vaccination of five to 11-year-olds against COVID-19 has been approved by a regulatory commission in Spain, the Ministry of Health in Madrid announced on Tuesday.

This had also paved way for Spain to further increase its vaccination rate, which already stood at just under 90 per cent of all people, aged 12 and older, which was high even by European standards.

In November, the European Medicines Agency approved the use of the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine for children aged five and above.

An estimated three million children were now eligible for the vaccination.

In spite of its high vaccination rate, Spain’s seven-day incidence is currently rising.

Its 2021, low of around 18 cases per 100,000 people was but a distant memory, however, and was currently hovering around the 139 mark.

On Tuesday, the Regional University Hospital of Malaga announced that some 68 medical staff had tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a hospital Christmas dinner on December 1.

A spokesperson for the hospital said that it was not yet known how many of the infections actually happened at the dinner, which was attended by more than 170 medical staff in total.

All attendees reportedly took antigen tests beforehand, all of which came back negative.

Those who attended the event had now gone into a 10 day quarantine.

(dpa/NAN)