The vaccine against Covid-19 was administered to members of the governing bodies of the Social Support Center for the Elderly of Portimão, some of whom have no contact with users and do not fit, it seems, in the criteria of this 1st phase of the vaccination.
The possibility of receiving the vaccine was already offered to the different elements of the management, to the members of the Assembly of Partners, to the elements of the Supervisory Board and to administrative staff.
Some refused, but there were those who accepted, even though they did not deal directly with the elderly, claiming that they did so to "not constitute a focus of risk to the health of users".
One of the people vaccinated was, found the Sul Informação, Ana Fazenda, secretary of the General Assembly of the Elderly Support Center, who has also worked as a PS councilor in the Portimão Chamber.
Ana Fazenda admitted to our newspaper that she had been vaccinated, claiming that she did it because she considered it "a prophylactic duty towards an institution that has managed the Covid-19 vacancy so well" and defending that this was "an absolutely correct procedure, proper to who is concerned with avoiding at all costs that the elderly are the object of contacts that suggest the spread of outbreaks».
This interpretation clashes with what the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve told the Sul Informação. According to this entity, "under the vaccination plan against Covid-19, the vaccine at this stage is for those who provide health care and who are in direct contact with ERPI users."
Filling in the list of professionals and users with criteria for vaccination “is the responsibility of each institution”.
«The ARS and the Health Center Groupings are responsible for administering the vaccines to the people identified by each institution».
But how did the possibility of Ana Fazenda being vaccinated, taking into account this rule that limits the vaccination against Covid-19 to people and professionals at risk, who are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic?
«I was contacted by a health technician from the institution, in a logic of institutional concern given my proximity to the users, questioning myself whether, in conscience and not being a proximity leader, in formal terms, I made the understanding that it should be incorporated in the vaccination list», he said.
According to Ana Fazenda – whose ex-husband, José Figueiredo Santos, is the president of the Social Center, also vaccinated – her relationship with this IPSS “goes far beyond formal functions”, as she had “an active participation in the intermediation resources for the institution, within the scope of this pandemic, such as obtaining masks and visors, among others”, not giving its work as finished, “since the pandemic continues and worsens”.
Adding these factors, the secretary of the General Assembly of the Support Center for the Elderly of Portimão made "the understanding that it should be vaccinated", so as not to "constitute a focus of risk to the health of users, whether in direct contact or in the indirect contact with employees, directors and users of the same”.
“Thus, I am fully aware of this matter, in the face of a controversy that has produced absolutely unjustified noise”, concluded Ana Fazenda, who speaks of “a biased exploration” of this subject.
Who was also contacted «in order to be vaccinated against Covid-19, for some time» was Carlos Bicheiro, president of the institution's Supervisory Board and coordinator of the PSD Studies Office in Portimão. But in this case the answer was quite different.
"I didn't accept it, but I think that some elements of the social bodies will have been vaccinated", he said. As for the other two members of the Supervisory Board, he says he is not sure whether or not they will have been vaccinated, although he has "the idea that they won't".
As for who was actually vaccinated, Carlos Bicheiro, cannot give certainty. "I didn't follow the process, nor do I know how it was processed".
CM TV, on the other hand, presents numbers and says that four members of the board, three from the Shareholders' Meeting and one member of the Supervisory Board were vaccinated, in addition to administrative staff in an unspecified number.
This, in addition to people who were legitimately vaccinated, that is, the approximately 260 elderly people assisted by the Social Support Center for the Elderly of Portimão, an institution that manages three homes, and its approximately 150 employees.
Despite not specifying who was vaccinated, the president of the management of the Center assured the Correio da Manhã and the Observer that all vaccinated people are in contact with the elderly and were able to be vaccinated.
«In the context of responsible coping with outbreaks in homes, in the universe of 260 assisted elderly, approximately without cases of Covid-19, we comply with what is established in the Vaccination Plan and in the CNIS guidelines, under which all were vaccinated the elderly, professionals, part of the management bodies essential to face-to-face functioning in the institution (also at risk), and who have direct and active contact with the elderly, with the facilities they attend and use», justified José Figueiredo Santos, who he also chairs the PS bench at the Portimão Municipal Assembly.
However, this criterion was not applied to the employees of “Catraia”, the institution's childcare center, despite its physical proximity to Lar da Raminha and, as guaranteed by the Sul Informação a source linked to the process, which does not want to be identified, despite the professionals of this valence for children using spaces in common with those of the neighboring residential structure for the elderly.
This happened, according to the chairman of the board, "by determination of the Health Authorities", which exclude employees "who were on sick leave and employees linked to the valence of children (Catraia)", who should "be subject to timely vaccination" .
The justifications given by José Figueiredo Santos do not allow us to assess whether the rules were complied with, as it is not known, specifically, which individuals were vaccinated.
But it is still strange that employees who work with the children, half-walls with one of the nursing homes, have not been vaccinated, even though administrative employees who do not deal directly with risk users – who are outside the criteria, have not been vaccinated. explained the Algarve ARS.
It was, moreover, the occurrence of similar situations in different parts of the country that led the General Inspection of Health Activities to decide start to control the vaccination process against Covid-19 through audits. In addition to this alleged case in Portimão, there was news of the vaccination of non-priority elements at INEM, by the Mayor of Reguengos de Monsaraz and at the regional delegation of Social Security in Setúbal.
“This is a plan that is a huge operation and it started a month ago, it didn't start a year ago. I suppose they are sporadic cases, but they are disturbing, so this audit process begins», summarized Francisco Ramos, coordinator of taskforce for the vaccination plan, referring to the “deviation of criteria” that will have led to the administration of vaccines to people not included in the priority groups for this first phase.
It is precisely to the audits that the ARS refers, as a way to make the vaccination process more transparent, also in the Algarve. Secretary of State Jorge Botelho, who is the coordinator of measures to combat the pandemic in the Algarve, told Público that "the law is clear about the priority criteria" in applying the vaccine. Therefore, any deviation from these guidelines "must be cleared up — possibly, open an inquiry".
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