People with intellectual disabilities will have to wait to receive vaccines.

Currently, by order of the Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkis, employees of social institutions stand out among the priority groups and their residents are also included in the list.

However, visitors to the day centers will be vaccinated as usual. Most of them are only after the mass vaccination begins.

Eglė Gudžinskienė, a social worker working at the Panevėžys Youth Day Center, says that all possible protection measures are used in the day centers that do not close during the second quarantine, but that they are not enough.

“During the first quarantine, all day care centers for the disabled were closed. Most of the visitors stayed at home, reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection. Day centers are already operational. Of course, the flows are there. regulated, but the higher risk remains, as individuals from different families meet. This is a very large social circle, “said the social worker.

According to E. Gudžinskienė, on their own initiative, the social workers tried to request both the municipality and the Ministry of Health (SAM) to review the procedure and include people with intellectual disabilities in the priority group for vaccination, but they did not do so. look for anything.

It would be a terrible stress

“From the point of view of the State, a person can become ill that, having found himself in the hospital, it would be difficult for him to say and explain how he feels. It is very difficult and sometimes impossible for a stranger, a doctor, to understand those who are trying to describe their symptoms.

A person with mental disabilities who would be admitted to a hospital would be restless in an unfamiliar environment, they would feel unsafe, which is a terrible stress, ”said a social worker about the need to vaccinate the wards.

From the point of view of the State, a person can become ill who, having found himself in the hospital, would find it difficult to say and explain how he feels.

According to E. Gudžinskienė, the employees of the Panevėžys Youth Day Center feel constant tension, which was compounded by the news that Eight of the nine residents affected by COVID-19 at the Lauksargiai nursing home in Tauragė district were vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine..

“We don’t know if the staff can still infect visitors even though they have been vaccinated. Most of our employees have already been vaccinated with a second vaccine.

However, we urgently need information on whether we can still transmit the disease. Three weeks have passed since our booster vaccination, we feel much safer due to our immunity, but we are still not completely sure about the safety of our youth, ”said the social worker.

Professor at Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine dr. Vytautas Kasiulevičius says that there is no unequivocal answer to the question about the possibility of becoming infected with coronavirus after vaccination.

“I think it is necessary to investigate very well the cases in which people were infected after the second vaccination. It needs to be clarified. I still have no answers. Once the National Center for Public Health has provided all the answers, if those people have actually been vaccinated or if it has been done in accordance with all the requirements, then we can draw conclusions.

We can’t do that yet. The overall experience with vaccination is very good, with a significant reduction in morbidity. Israel is a great example, where many people have been vaccinated and the results are very good, “explained V. Kasiulevičius.

Priority – for other indicators

According to Jurgita Jokubauskienė, Chief Specialist of the Institutional Oversight Division of the SPPD, although the visitors to the nurseries do not belong to the priority group, there is still a high probability that they can be vaccinated in order of priority due to other indicators.

For example, about 45 percent of visitors would be vaccinated due to a certain age.

Priority will also be given to people with diabetes, chronic lung and cardiovascular diseases.

Individuals diagnosed with quadriplegia, obesity, and other serious illnesses.

According to E. Gudžinskienė, among the 70 people with intellectual disabilities at the Panevėžys Youth Day Center, only a few have such comorbidities.

Most of them are physically healthy, so they will probably receive their vaccine only after mass vaccination of the population.

J.Jakubauskienė 15 minutes The response sent indicates that the objective is to manage the risks in the day centers by vaccinating their staff and taking additional security measures.

“The COVID-19 vaccine is being given to all welfare workers (including daycare workers) who agree to be vaccinated. This contributes to a significant reduction in the risk of COVID-19 infection for everyday social service users.

It should be noted that the institutions that provide daytime social care services also implement many other measures: cleaning, disinfecting the premises, ensuring the proper use of personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, distributing the flows of service users, ”wrote the specialist in your response.

J.Jakubauskienė regrets that not everyone receives the vaccine soon.

“Vaccination with COVID-19 is currently considered one of the most important tools to control coronavirus infection. Of course, we would like everyone who wants to be able to receive this vaccine as soon as possible and for the life of both the state and all of us to return to normal cancers before this disease occurs.

It is regrettable that at present the quantities of COVID-19 vaccine are not sufficient to ensure the rapid vaccination of all citizens who want the state with the COVID-19 vaccine, “added the response specialist.

According to data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (SADM) of February 8, daytime social care services were provided in 166 institutions and received 5144 people.

Of these, 512 children with disabilities, 2329 adults with disabilities, 2303 elderly.