Former Deputy Minister of Health Eduardo Espinoza claims that the health units should have been consolidated, instead of building cabins.
“Waste” and “unnecessary expenditure” are the main adjectives that triggered the Government’s announcement to build 156 vaccination booths or modules to apply the COVID-19 vaccine, at a cost of $ 5 million, according to data provided by the Minister of Health , Francisco Alabí.
Each stand will cost an estimated $ 32,000, the minister reported; However, there is still no precise information on when the vaccine will arrive in the country.
On social media, health professionals reminded the government that the country’s public health system has 700 health facilities with adequate infrastructure and a cold chain to keep the vaccine refrigerated at the required temperature.
The cold chain keeps the vaccine refrigerated until exactly when it is applied.
Former Deputy Minister of Health Policy Eduardo Espinoza describes the stand project as an unnecessary expense, as 100% of the population will not be vaccinated at once; and had to be consolidated and spent in health facilities, where vaccination sites already exist.
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“It is not necessary to make all those unnecessary travel and expenditure of resources in the whole structure that is made (…) This is in my opinion a propaganda problem, for electoral purposes, but which does not meet the need,” he argued . .
Minister Alabí justified the new investment by saying that “El Salvador will not vaccinate a small percentage, not only will 20% of the population have access, will provide universal access” and that there are 2,000 community health teams that will provide care to the population in each of these modules.
In this regard, Espinoza said that there are 570 community family health teams that are located nationwide and that their work is itinerant and that they are trained for home vaccination. “Personnel who go to communities or who travel on itinerant routes, for the population that cannot go to units, wear a thermos that is regulated and standardized with the requirements of the World Health Organization (to carry vaccines). And that, in this case, they can work ”to transfer the vaccine against COVID-19, Espinoza said.
The former official stressed that these health teams have in the past allowed the El Salvador administration to position itself with high vaccination rates, surpassing Costa Rica in immunization rates.
The public health doctor, Francisco Erazo Cadena, criticized the construction of vaccination booths through his Twitter account and claims that it is necessary to improve the primary health system for the rural population, which did not have access to screening tests for COVID-19 and I wonder if, with the vaccination booths intend to cover this population?
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“The ideal is to strengthen the primary level (health promoters, pick-ups, clinics) … Without vaccination modules”, the doctor argued.
Minister Alabí justified that the expense is due to the fact that 4.5 million Salvadorans will be immunized, however he does not give details about when the vaccine against COVID-19 will arrive in El Salvador and only mentioned that the vaccine to be applied is that of AstraZeneca; whose storage requires the normal temperature of a refrigerator.
Minister Alabí stressed that the Government will obtain nine million doses of vaccine and will start immunization with doctors, nurses, the elderly, people with chronic diseases and government employees such as the police, the army, firefighters and others.
Without spending cabins in other countries
Parking lots, outdoor venues and event centers are COVID-19 vaccination venues in other countries.
For example, in the UK, the massive vaccination campaign has started for residents of a health center in Cardiff, South Wales. The vaccine applied to this population is that of Pfizer-BioNTech.
While in the United States, in Davie Park, Florida, there is a COVID-19 drive-thru (self-service) vaccination center.