- Region
- Águilas
- Alhama de Murcia
- Jumilla
- Lorca
- Los Alcázares
- Mazarrón
- San Javier
-
ALL AREAS & TOWNS
- AREAS
- SOUTH WEST
- MAR MENOR
- MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
- NORTH & NORTH WEST
- TOWNS
- Abanilla
- Abarán
- Aguilas
- Alamillo
- Alcantarilla
- Aledo
- Alhama de Murcia
- Archena
- Balsicas
- Blanca
- Bolnuevo
- Bullas
- Cañadas del Romero
- Cabo de Palos
- Calasparra
- Camping Bolnuevo
- Campo De Ricote
- Camposol
- Canada De La Lena
- Caravaca de la Cruz
- Cartagena
- Cehegin
- Ceuti
- Cieza
- Condado de Alhama
- Corvera
- Costa Cálida
- Cuevas De Almanzora
- Cuevas de Reyllo
- El Carmoli
- El Mojon
- El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
- El Pareton / Cantareros
- El Raso
- El Valle Golf Resort
- Fortuna
- Fuente Alamo
- Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
- Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
- Isla Plana
- Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
- Jumilla
- La Azohia
- La Charca
- La Manga Club
- La Manga del Mar Menor
- La Pinilla
- La Puebla
- La Torre
- La Torre Golf Resort
- La Unión
- Las Palas
- Las Ramblas
- Las Ramblas Golf
- Las Torres de Cotillas
- Leiva
- Librilla
- Lo Pagan
- Lo Santiago
- Lorca
- Lorquí
- Los Alcázares
- Los Balcones
- Los Belones
- Los Canovas
- Los Nietos
- Los Perez (Tallante)
- Los Urrutias
- Los Ventorrillos
- Mar De Cristal
- Mar Menor
- Mar Menor Golf Resort
- Mazarrón
- Mazarrón Country Club
- Molina de Segura
- Moratalla
- Mula
- Murcia City
- Murcia Property
- Pareton
- Peraleja Golf Resort
- Perin
- Pilar de la Horadada
- Pinar de Campoverde
- Pinoso
- Playa Honda
- Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
- Pliego
- Portmán
- Pozo Estrecho
- Puerto de Mazarrón
- Puerto Lumbreras
- Puntas De Calnegre
- Region of Murcia
- Ricote
- Roda Golf Resort
- Roldan
- Roldan and Lo Ferro
- San Javier
- San Pedro del Pinatar
- Santiago de la Ribera
- Sierra Espuña
- Sucina
- Tallante
- Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
- Torre Pacheco
- Totana
- What's On Weekly Bulletin
- Yecla
- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Alicante Today Andalucia Today
ARCHIVED - Health backtracks after anger over centralization of Covid vaccination in Murcia at 8 major centres
Complaints from angry mayors seem to have prompted a rapid back-peddling
Various local Mayors in parts of the Region of Murcia expressed their disappointment and anger at the announcement by the regional government on Thursday that coronavirus vaccination was to be “prioritized” at just eight major centres, two of them in the city of Murcia (the Palacio de los Deportes and the Enrique Roca stadium, formerly the Nueva Condomina) and one each in Cartagena (the Pabellón Cabezo Beaza), Lorca (Pabellón Felipe VI), Yecla (Feria del Mueble), Caravaca de la Cruz (Polideportivo Jorge Bera), San Javier (the recinto ferial, or fairground) and Cieza (Polideportivo Mariano Rojas).
The reason offered for this decision by the regional minister for Health, Juan José Pedreño, is that centralizing the immunization process makes it possible to avoid overloading local health centres, but many feel that the change creates a good deal of inconvenience for a large number of people. For example, Juana Guardiola, the Mayoress of Jumilla in the north of the Region, expressed her indignation at the prospect of many of the 26,500 residents of the municipality having to travel some 30 kilometres to Yecla.
Sra Guardiola’s counterpart in Águilas, María del Carmen Moreno, claims that explanations and justifications were requested for 48 hours from the regional health authorities after the planned local mass vaccination campaign was taken off the agenda, and lamented the fact that the residents of Águilas would have to travel to Lorca when the council had already spent a great deal of money (to say nothing of effort) preparing the mass vaccination centre in the sports pavilion which has been operating very smoothly and successfully to date (see image).
For many of her residents, a 74 kilometre round-trip would be the result of the decision, which would close the pavilion in Águilas, as it would in Mazarrón, where many foreign nationals have just been given their first jab.
Her anger is mirrored by María del Carmen Morales and Inmaculada Sánchez, the Mayoresses of Beniel and Santomera respectively, where it seemed that residents would have to make the journey into the city of Murcia in order to receive their jabs.
The Los Alcázares mayor has complained previously about his residents having to travel to san Javier for their jabs, a long journey for elderly residents without their own vehicles, and even a long trip for those with their own transport.
While on the one hand Sr Pedreño’s explanations are coherent, and for many people the inconvenience of travelling to one of the vaccination points is far outweighed by their keenness to be vaccinated, particularly now that the over-80s age group is immunized, the anger of local authorities is also easy to understand.
Town Halls have gone to great lengths to provide venues and infrastructures for local vaccinations in order to make it as easy as possible for people to receive their jabs, and in very few cases have procedures in smaller municipalities been reported to be less efficient than those at the major centres in larger towns and cities, in fact, long queues at the major vaccination points have certainly generated plenty of comment on social media, particularly from those forced to stand outside in the rain for over an hour who are elderly and have found it an extremely uncomfortable experience.
It has also been highlighted by the angry mayors (and the PSOE party they all represent) that most of the municipalities in which vaccination was being stopped and patients sent to the eight major vaccination points are run by the socialist party, and the angry press release published by the party could have been the tipping point which prompted a spot of back-paddling by the regional minister in the afternoon on Friday.
The minister said that "no vaccination points in the region had been closed" and that the eight focal vaccination centres had been set up with the purpose of "agilising" the vaccination programme so that young people who have less transport difficulties than older residents, could be vaccinated en-masse, "we have established one reference point for each health area, but this doesn´t mean that other points will be eliminated," he said, insisting that the challenge faced by the health service was to vaccinate as many people as soon as possible.
He also insisted that the logistical difficulties in handling the Pfeizer vaccine, which has to be administered within four days of it being taken out of cold storage, favoured its use in centralised vaccination points.
Next week, he said, the region would also begin vaccinating the 70-79 year group with the Janssen doses received so far.