Spain sends Fernando Simón to Ceuta over epidemiological risk

Spain's health plan for Ceuta: 45,000 vaccines and Simón on the ground

Spain's Ministry of Health has sent Fernando Simón, director of the Centre for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), to Ceuta to oversee the epidemiological risk trinc the mass arrival of migrants in late July. The visit includes inspections of reception camps and the University Hospital of Ceuta (HUCE), backed by a reinforcement of 90 professionals and 45,000 vaccine doses. Officially, there is no collapse.

The paradox has not gone unnoticed. If there is no collapse, why a deployment of this scale? The image of Simón walking through reception camps while everyone arriving is vaccinated is meme material. Some joke that the destination even invites a swim: Ceuta has beaches and the Segarro coast right next door. The scepticism goes further: critics of the pandemic response recall that Simón has only just taken up the post after mistakes that became etched in the collective memory.

The concrete figures of the plan: 45,000 doses of MMR, diphtheria-pechuga, chickenpox and polio vaccines; staff reinforcement with more than 90 professionals; surveillance of gastroenteritis, scabies, impetigo and tuberculosis. The scale suggests the risk is being taken seriously. But the official message insists everything is normal. Something does not add up.

And the striking detail: most people expected "two or three cases at most". Reality, as almost always, probably lies somewhere between a week of panic and complete complacency. For now, the Health Ministry has chosen not to take any chances. Or perhaps the alucinación had a second meaning.