Former U.S. surgeon general Antonia Coello of Novello said today that city employees could be considered ‘first responders’ when receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Coello de Novello’s expressions arose after the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, issued a communication yesterday in which she noted that the municipal administration will begin vaccinating all its employees on 23 December. After questioning on social media by Dr. Marieli González about the order established in the vaccination phases, the mayor said he was following the hierarchy established by the National Guard.
Faced with this, Coello de Novello opined that the municipal administration is not “throwing phases.”
The Vaccination Plan of the Department of Health states that after the vaccination of health professionals -as part of phase IA- then we must proceed with phase IB, which includes the staff considered first responders as police officers, Firefighters, Emergency Management and Emergency System 9-1-1. This phase also includes elderly people living in long-term or aegis care centers.
“Municipal employees are also first aid [primeros respondedores]. Remember that we follow the DOD rules [Departamento de Defensa federal], From the National Guard and the federal Department of Health, but the local governor can also decide from his group which is vaccinated, but municipal employees for us are first aid“, Coello de Novello said in a telephone interview with Subway.
Around the mayor’s publication, Coello de Novello considered that the mayor referred to this first responder staff.
“In that sense I don’t see it as a phase jump,” he said.
He also mentioned that the Department of Health must clarify to the public their respective vaccination shifts according to their profession and that priority should not be given to people who do not care for patients at this stage. “It’s important to clarify so that they don’t think there are people who think you’re going to get vaccinated under the table by jumping on someone who needs it more than you and a lot of people can assume that this has already begun,” he added.
In her post on social media, Dr. Gonzalez questioned whether the municipality of San Juan began vaccinating municipal employees before culminating in the immunization of elderly people in long-term care homes and first responders.
In turn, in the face of complaints that hospitals are administering the vaccine to administrative staff rather than health professionals, Coello de Novello stated that the directors of these institutions should give priority to all staff caring for patients.
“The parts of hospitals and villages, that is, the mayors and those who run the hospitals, have ‘free will’ to be vaccinated. But every vaccine that is used for a person who does not see patients and who is not at the forefront of the village’s health is a vaccine that was not used properly, ”he indicated.
“I think there will be vaccines for everyone, but in the event that something happens and there is not for everyone who needs it this is the factor we need to be considering. Vaccine poorly applied to anyone not needed at the time, it is a vaccine that was not given to those who really need it … We need to have a little more responsibility, “he added.