The Covid-19 vaccinations of two Spanish princesses in the United Arab Emirates – long before they would have received them in Spain – have generated controversy since the news was first released by the digital newspaper El Confidencial, in Madrid.
The princesses, Elena and Cristina, were recently vaccinated while visiting their father, former Spanish king Juan Carlos, in Abu Dhabi, where he is living, Princess Elena said in a brief statement on Wednesday.
Several Spanish ministers publicly criticized the two princesses on Wednesday. Soon after, Princess Elena issued a statement that she said was “in response to media reports about vaccination”.
“My sister (Cristina) and I, having gone to visit our father (in Abu Dhabi) and with the aim of obtaining a health passport that would allow us to visit him regularly, they offered us the vaccine and we accepted it.”
The statement concluded that, were it not for the circumstances, the princesses would have waited for the vaccine in Spain.
A spokesman for the royal family noted that princesses Elena and Cristina, as sisters of King Felipe of Spain, have had no official role as members of the royal family since at least 2014.
The spokesman also emphasized that the king, the queen and their two daughters are strictly following the health guidelines of Covid of Spain and are “going to wait their turn” for vaccination in Spain, based on their age and health conditions.
Spain, like other European Union countries, has experienced delays in its vaccine program due to limited supplies. He also saw several government officials and some Roman Catholic clerics who skipped the line to get vaccines. Later, several of them publicly apologized and some resigned from their positions.
Data from the Ministry of Health show that only 1.4 million people in Spain received both doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, along with others who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, in a population of about 47 million.