[ad_1]
The North Regional Health Administration (ARS) Health Centers and Family Health Units (USF) still have many flu vaccines available. All users are invited to take the vaccine, even those who do not belong to open access groups, as vaccines run the risk of being discontinued.
At the beginning of November, the Health Centers were in disarray, unable to respond to vaccinate people who, having the right to the free vaccine, were seeking services. ARS Norte sent an official statement to health centers explaining that “the 112,386 doses of influenza vaccine that have not yet been delivered will only be delivered to the central warehouses of ARS Norte as of November 30”.
At this time, it was necessary to reschedule users who were already scheduled due to lack of available vaccines to comply with the plan on the scheduled dates. Furthermore, there is no longer what doctors call “opportunistic vaccines”, that is, vaccinating patients at risk, such as diabetics or hypertensive patients, when they arrive at health centers for other reasons.
Several nurses – the professional group most directly linked to vaccination – complain of the degradation of the relationship with users, motivated by the postponement. “Users think that we are privileging certain people, because the Government said there would be vaccines for everyone and then they were absent,” denounces a nurse from the Alto Ave Health Center Group.
The NHS vaccination campaign began on September 28, with a first phase that included only those segments of the population considered a priority, such as residents in nursing homes, pregnant women and professionals from the health and social sector who provide care.
In the second phase, which began on October 19, the vaccine also began to be given to people 65 and older and people with chronic diseases.
Pharmacies also took part in this campaign, which, in addition to the 500,000 doses they ordered, were entitled to 150,000 doses delivered by the National Health Service. The arrival of these doses at the pharmacies, however, depended on the adherence of the municipalities to the “Local SNS Vaccination”, which made the municipalities responsible for paying 2.5 euros to the pharmacies for each inoculation.
To be vaccinated in pharmacies it was not necessary to have a medical prescription, once the user requesting the vaccine met the requirements issued by the DGS for the campaign.
Pharmacies, of course, had a lot to gain from vaccinating as many people as possible. For the State, however, it was different, since the service provided in the pharmacies had an additional cost. Although pharmacies have also complained about the lack of availability of vaccines to meet the demand, there were people who were scheduled in the Health Centers and ended up being vaccinated in the pharmacies. This has created confusion in the NHS, leading to vaccines now being left in the refrigerators of primary health care units.
[ad_2]
