A queue around the block next to the health center of La Fàbrica, in Alcoy, is what the people who attended the vaccination campaign of the booster dose. The residents of Banyeres, Benilloba, Cocentaina, Muro and those of the regional capital were summoned to attend between 3:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to receive the third injection against covid. The answer, they have indicated from the Department of Health of Alcoy, has doubled expectations.
Amparo Ferrer, director of Nursing and Primary Care of the Department of Alcoy has indicated that, from the Ministry of Health, they were asked to calculate an attendance of 20% in the best of cases. La Fàbrica, however, was attended by 30% of the people who received the SMS: “When the most optimistic forecast is 20%, it is because what is expected is that between 15 and 18% of the population actually attend. 30% attendance means double what we expected“.
The balance, despite everything, indicates that it is positive: “Only in the afternoon, La Fàbrica administered 1,200 booster doses. The news is good, because vaccination was slowing down. It should be remembered that vaccinations are given every day. A lot of people are called and most say they don’t want to go or indicate they will go and then don’t.”
Ferrer has remarked that health centers continue to give booster doses without the need for specific campaigns: “On the same Thursday morning, 100 doses were administered at La Fàbrica. I don’t know why people have responded so well to the campaign. It may be that a large part of the population has become accustomed to receiving the SMS and that is why it has taken time to attend.
Not all Health personnel consider it, however, a success. The delegate of the Medical Union of the Valencian Community in Alcoy, Alberto Acosta, has criticized the appointment of La Fàbrica as the place to carry out this campaign: “This health center is also a continuous emergency care point and it is a one-way street where there is usually a bottleneck due to traffic”.
Despite the criticism, Acosta has acknowledged that “there was no incident in care” but pointed out that “it was not the right place” since “a brutal crowding was experienced”. The delegate of the Medical Union also pointed out that “everyone was working at La Fàbrica” and that “in If an ambulance had to be accessed, I don’t know what would have happened”.
The Department of Health, for its part, has defended itself against these comments: “The queue did not bother anyone, both the coordinator of the health center and myself. we were present and there were no big problems“, Ferrer pointed out. The director of Nursing and Primary Care added that “it may have bothered some doctor”, since the emergency care point was active, but she also indicated that “the emergency door is a side and access to vaccination on another”.
Given the doubts of the Medical Union about whether La Fàbrica was the best health center for this campaign, Ferrer has argued that “it is the largest” in Alcoy, and that therefore its designation was justified.
A twenty people who came on Thursday was left unvaccinated in the absence of doses. “These people have been instructed to go regularly to their health center, since vaccination is active in all of them every day,” Ferrer recalled.
From the Department of Health they consider it a success to have vaccinated 1,200 people in one afternoon and have ensured that they will repeat the campaign in two weeks: “We did not plan to carry out a recall campaign again. This has helped us to verify that people are willing to receive their dose, and therefore we have to repeat it. On the 14th it will be done again“.
Regarding whether the campaign for the population convened on Thursday at La Fàbrica will repeat its location, Ferrer has confirmed that in principle it will, although she has shown herself willing to study alternatives: “Other options can be assessed, but in principle it will be at La Fàbrica. The campaign is not mounted yet and we have to analyze what has happened this Thursday. We are going to collect the ratings and when we have them we will make a decision, since there are still two weeks left. But we will campaign again.”
It should be noted that La Fàbrica was not the only vaccination point in which the inhabitants of the Alcoy Health Department were summoned. the neighbors of Ibi, Castalla, Onil and the populations close to these were convened on Thursday at the Ibi II Health Center. Nevertheless, no problem recorded during the day, which also ran from 3:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
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