Health has requested the Autonomous Communities to send 15,000 doses of the MMR vaccine and 10,000 doses of diphtheria-tetanus, chickenpox, and polio to attend to immigrants settled irregularly in Ceuta after the jump that occurred on July 30. After the meeting of the Public Health Commission convened last Friday under a single agenda item – solidarity mechanism for vaccines in relation to the situation in Ceuta -, an agreement was reached, although various councilors have expressed concern about how the supply logistics will be organized.
This was expressed, among others, by the Health Councilor of the Government of Aragón, Ángel Sanz, who stated that “the position of the Government of Aragón is to help Ceuta and the people of Ceuta, who have all our support and solidarity.” The Autonomous Community he presides over “will provide the necessary vaccines” to Ceuta along with the other regions and has asked the Ministry of Health how it will organize logistics with all the Autonomous Communities, reports Europa Press.
Sanz said that “Aragón has always been a community in solidarity with the rest of Spain and will continue to be so. In this case, given the situation in Ceuta, even more so.” In any case, he pointed out that “solidarity between administrations cannot become a substitution of responsibilities,” continued the councilor, who demanded from the Ministry “complete information on the needs that arise.”
Ángel Sanz has asked the central government for information about the situation in Ceuta, the actions it intends to carry out, and “how an effective application of the resources requested from us will be made,” lamenting that “the Government of Spain arrives late to a situation it had already foreseen,” adding: “It is not enough to request vaccines; the entire operation must be organized as a whole.”
Sánchez convenes the National Security Council 26 days after the “attack on territorial integrity” in Ceuta
- Editorial: AGENCIES
The Ministry of Health urgently convenes communities to supply vaccines in Ceuta: chickenpox, polio, diphtheria…
- Editorial: SILVIA MORENO Seville
“Once an autonomous community makes vaccines available to Ceuta, a logistical operation begins that cannot be improvised, and the Ministry must explain how it intends to organize this operation” because “we cannot have 17 logistical solutions,” he pointed out. “The Ministry must assume this coordination and present a single protocol for the mobilization of these vaccines,” he concluded.
The Health Councilor of Cantabria, César Pascual, also assured this Monday that the regional government will provide all its reserves of the vaccines requested by the Ministry of Health. Pascual, who offered “total collaboration”, stated that “the biggest problem” with the shipment is logistics, as some vaccines cannot lose the cold chain.
In this regard, he pointed out that “there cannot be 17 logistics” from as many communities and that the National Institute of Health Management (Ingesa), which is also responsible for healthcare in the autonomous city, should be in charge.
On the other hand, the Cantabrian councilor considered that the Ministry of Health “needs to get moving” because in June it approved a strategy in which it assumed the competence to vaccinate immigrants within three weeks. “That period has passed, and now they think of asking the communities to come to their aid,” he added.
He also indicated that the State “is not buying vaccines and has not initiated the purchase process since June” and opined that the Ministry “could have gone directly to the laboratories.”
Regarding vaccine availability, Pascual also explained that “we always ask for more, among other things because Cantabria is growing” in population. However, he specified that he will not send more than the reserves “because we have a population to vaccinate.”
As for Ceuta, the councilor emphasized that “it is a small city and does not need a significant volume,” so he thinks there are “sufficient” reserves in Spain.
The Health Councilor of the Community of Madrid, Fátima Matute, also expressed herself on the matter, assuring that they will respond with “solidarity and responsibility” to the Ministry of Health’s vaccine request but warning that this availability cannot serve to “hide the lack of foresight and work of the ministry.” She referred to the specific vaccination strategy approved by Health for immigrants and refugees and accused the ministry of not having activated an emergency vaccine purchase with the manufacturing laboratories.
Matute, although insisting on the Community of Madrid’s collaboration with Ceuta, sent harsh messages to the Ministry of Health, calling its vaccine request “blackmail” and demanding that in the delivery of these vaccine doses there be: “state coordination, full financing, and immediate replacement of each vaccine ceded: one dose delivered must be one dose replaced.”
Sources from the Ministry of Health have indicated that the Public Health Commission has addressed vaccine availability in Ceuta “in light of the needs arising from the current situation and with the aim of guaranteeing an adequate response without affecting the development of the ordinary vaccination schedule.”
“Although the situation is not a public health emergency, prevention work must be done, highlighting that the most urgent measure is to guarantee dignified conditions for migrants,” the cited sources said, adding that “in this way, Ceuta will have the necessary vaccines to respond to the extraordinary prevention needs of potential diseases through vaccination, both for unvaccinated Ceutans and migrants.”
On the other hand, a delegation from the Ministry of Health, led by the Secretary of State for Health and president of the National Institute of Health Management (Ingesa), Javier Padilla, arrived this Monday in Ceuta to assess the impact of the migration crisis at the University Hospital and Primary Care services of the autonomous city. The delegation will hold several meetings in the coming days with technicians and some political officials from the Ministry, responsible for the health competencies of the autonomous city.
The visit takes place eight days after the one made by the Minister of Health, Mónica García, who will appear on Thursday before the Health Commission in Congress in an extraordinary session to explain her management of this crisis.
Several experts in Public Health emphasize that the priority in Ceuta is to resolve overcrowding and sanitation problems.
For Joan Cayla, former head of the Epidemiology service of the Barcelona Public Health Agency and coordinator of the Tuberculosis Research Unit in Barcelona, “the number one priority is to solve housing and food problems. We do not know the exact figure, but it is estimated that about 5,000 people are currently in a very complicated situation.”
Right now, the priority is to attend to the sanitation and nutrition conditions of these people, as well as to assess their health status, says Caylà, who points out that “in overcrowded conditions, there is always the possibility of infections, of an epidemic outbreak.”
In this regard, the specialist emphasizes that “improving vaccination coverage is undoubtedly important” but, in his opinion, “a second step behind other measures.”
“Spain, from a health perspective, is a country capable of quickly and systematically reviewing those thousands of people to detect, for example, undiagnosed tuberculosis cases.”
Tuberculosis is a disease present in Spain, the specialist recalls. “If systematic reviews were done among the general Spanish population, it is estimated that 10 cases per 100,000 people would be found. In populations from countries with much higher incidence, also more vulnerable, this probability would be close to 1%,” he notes.
The specialist calls for “a political agreement as soon as possible” to solve “a problem that has become entrenched.”
Also, Antoni Trilla, professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, stresses the urgent need to address a problem that cannot be delayed.
“The situation in Ceuta is not easy, it is very complex, but it has nothing to do with a situation that puts the health of the entire population at risk nor implies, much less, measures as drastic as those taken at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Trilla.
