<p>MADRID — Spain is stepping up its vaccination drive, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saying Tuesday that a steep rise in deliveries over coming months will allow the country to inoculate 70% of its adult population — some 33 million people — against COVID-19 by the end of August.</p>
<p>“The priority now, more than ever, is to vaccinate without respite," Sánchez told a news conference. "Vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate,” he said.</p>
<p>Spain expects to receive 87 million doses by September. “Anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one,” Sánchez said.</p>
<p>Those deliveries will include 38 million between April and June — 3.5 times more than in January-March, Sánchez said, when vaccine deliveries across Europe fell short of expectations.</p>
<p>To help the rollout pick up speed, some cities are opening mass vaccination centers.</p>
<p>Sánchez set out a series of intended milestones: 5 million people vaccinated by the first week of May, 10 million by early June, 15 million by mid-June and 25 million by July 15.</p>
<p>“We are at the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” Sánchez said, though such hopes have risen before in Europe only to be dashed by unforeseen problems with vaccine production.</p>
<p>He said that under the national vaccination program about 98% of people who live in elderly care homes or who are disabled have already received a first jab, while almost 80% of people over the age of 80 have had their first dose.</p>
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