“I didn’t want to miss work”

The flu vaccination point opened this Saturday at the Nuestra Señora de Gràcia hospital in Zaragoza (province) has been receiving a constant flow of people since 9:00, when it opened its doors. During the day, people come for vaccination without an appointment: on average more than 30 per hour.

The reasons range from those who work all week and cannot arrange their schedule to receive the vaccine at their health center, to people who wanted to make an appointment or families who took their children, taking advantage of the fact that it was Saturday and the kids don’t have kindergarten or school.

The day has how the goal is to speed up the campaign and increase the coverage that has been achieved in two months, since the process was launched in Aragon on October 1, along with the Covid vaccine for certain groups. So far, the highest acceptance rate has been achieved in people over 80 years of age (66%), while among the population aged 60 to 80 years it is around 35%, and in children aged 6 to 59 months it is 29 %. .

This Saturday, representatives of the Aragonese Health Service Sara Guillen, Director of Hospital Nursing, and Maite Clares, Director of Nursing, were at the provincial vaccination site and explained device organized serve those who come there all morning. Before entering the room where two nurses are giving injections, they are asked if they have any risk pathology, if they are medical or social health workers, if they care for vulnerable people… They then record a medical record, details checked and The information is entered into the Electronic Medical Record..

The director of nursing said that in the first two hours, about 60 people of different ages had already arrived. He recalled that target group included in the campaign These include children aged 6 to 59 months, minors and adults with risk factors or people over 60 years of age. According to him, the flu in older people “can be very severe.” It also calls for greater coverage of children.

The family from Zaragoza arrived this morning after 10:30 with their daughter Abril, two and a half years old: “She goes to kindergarten and we think this is a good protection to avoid illness. We already gave her the vaccine last year. Also. “It’s a good option so we don’t have to take her out of daycare,” she says. In her case, the little girl received the intranasal vaccine, which is given through the nose, like children 2 to 5 years old do.

The goal is to facilitate access to the system to receive immunization against the respiratory virus, and the intention is to organize another similar day in December, before the predicted influenza epidemic. As reflected in the Epidemiological Bulletin, during Last week, the incidence of influenza in primary care was 15.7 cases per 100 thousand residents.

which is below the basal threshold set for the season at 58.2. Despite this, 60 emergencies related to the virus were reported in public hospitals, representing 0.5% of the total number of health care cases.

One of the patients who came to the Regional Hospital this morning admitted that she began receiving a flu shot as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At 84, Teresa Cupertino explained that she moved from Las Fuentes after hearing the news this week: “I decided to come because my center gives me more days.”

The woman, Maria José, also contacted the provincial for the vaccine due to disease risk suffers, for example, from asthma or diabetes, but “in the application I did not see the opportunity to receive this vaccination. “Last year I didn’t get vaccinated, and in November I got Covid and couldn’t get vaccinated,” he criticizes. Among the youngest was Diego, 19 years oldwho arrived accompanied by his fatherWhat prompted him to get vaccinated? because “he usually catches colds often.”

Sonya, 54, also came to receive the vaccine to protect herself and others because, as she explained, she cares for the elderly: “At the health center, the vaccine is only administered until 15:00 and of course.” I wanted to skip work, I wanted to come today, Saturday.” “I woke up early and came to get vaccinated”– he points out.

A few minutes later, another woman, 49, arrived, taking advantage of the fact that she could get the vaccine without an appointment to increase protection given that she works at the center with minors. “There are only so many precautions we can take,” he said. Next to her is Carmen, 57 years old, from Zaragoza. He decided to go protect himself from a respiratory infection because he works with the public.. “I didn’t want to lose a day of work, so this opportunity suited me very well,” he noted. “I’ve been wearing it for years,” he recalled.