Spain’s Ministry of Health has called the heads of public health in the Autonomous Communities to a special videoconference meeting on Monday, 24 August 2026, to coordinate vaccine deliveries to Ceuta in the current migration situation.
The meeting of the Comisión de Salud Pública will be chaired by Pedro Gullón, Director General for Public Health at the Ministerio de Sanidad, are invited, along with representatives of the ministry and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. According to the agenda, one item is at the centre of the meeting: "Mecanismo de solidaridad para vacunas".
Under this solidarity mechanism, the regions are to provide doses at short notice and, if needed, mobile teams, so that newly arrived migrants can be routinely immunised. The ministry emphasises close coordination with local authorities and the state health services on the ground.
According to the ministry, the plan is to administer the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (triple vírica) as well as vaccinations against chickenpox (varicela), poliomyelitis, tetanus and diphtheria. Organisationally, the main issues, alongside procurement, are logistics, the cold chain and links with primary care in the city. The authorities are also examining how vaccination records and the tracking of vaccine courses can be made practical for mobile population groups.
For the following week, the Ministerio de Sanidad has also announced a visit to Ceuta by a delegation led by the Secretary of State for Health and the president of the Instituto Nacional de Gestión Sanitaria (Ingesa), Javier Padilla. The delegation is to assess the impact of the situation on the university hospital and health centres, and coordinate further needs with the local authorities. Ingesa is responsible for state healthcare in Ceuta and Melilla.
The background is a sharp rise in border crossings at the end of July and beginning of August, which placed short-term pressure on the city's accommodation, initial care and administration. In the ministry's view, the aim of the measure is to limit infection risks early and close vaccination gaps among people without reliable vaccination records. No specific figures for vaccine doses, timetables or funding had been announced by the time of publication. Different figures have been circulating for the number of people assisted in recent weeks; however, authorities and aid organisations agree that local services have been operating at significantly higher capacity. Further steps depend on the decisions taken at the special meeting and their implementation by the different levels involved.
Editor: Clara Simonichek (Article created with AI assistance).