Dew magnani
05/26/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 05/26/2021 6:00 AM
The province of Buenos Aires announced that at the end of May the second phase or "milestone" of its immunization plan against the coronavirus will end, which includes people aged 40 to 59 with pre-existing diseases. But, how many Buenos Aires residents have been vaccinated without having shown that they carry this comorbidity? In vaccinations, it is not considered
a mandatory condition to carry a corroborating certificate
, and the Buenos Aires government did not design any plan to audit that people do not skip the line.
The policy of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health is to request that the person who did not bring the voucher to the vaccination point
fill out a form as an affidavit
. In this document, in addition to re-indicating the pre-existing disease, it must provide a set of data that aims to verify the veracity of the risk factor. For example, the name of the medication used is requested, if indeed one is taken.
This protocol appears on the Vacunate website, where registrations are made to receive immunization in the province.
Among the frequently asked questions, it is clarified that as "in no case" will a medical order be required to receive the doses, people belonging to any risk group "will prove their condition by means of
a medical certificate or an affidavit
."
"It is not even necessary to carry a trucho certificate," says an interviewee who was not asked for the voucher he had brought.
File photo: Andres D'Elia
Clarín was
able to know of cases of Buenos Aires people who, despite having the certificate, did not request it.
"They only verified my name on the DNI," said a 54-year-old man from Esteban Echeverría who took a record from his cardiologist, but it was not required at Luis Guillón's vaccination where it was his turn.
“I was surprised that they did not ask me to attach a copy of a certificate at the time of registration and that they did not ask me for it at the vaccination center either.
If I was not hypertensive, they would have vaccinated me just the same with an affidavit
”, he added.
Another man, 52, said that he had a medical study to prove that he is diabetic, but he was never asked for it at the Lomas de Zamora vaccination center where he was summoned.
“When I arrived that day, I began to see that in front of me no one was presenting anything.
So when my turn comes, I offer to show one of the officials my certificate.
He
told
me that he did not need it,
”he told this newspaper.
You don't even need to have a trucho certificate, because they don't ask for it.
And as it goes well, one says to the other 'write down that nothing happens'.
Total, if afterwards something jumps, they already gave you the vaccine ".
In the Province, there is no audit plan for sworn statements or vouchers, although an option was enabled for citizens to make complaints.
Photo: Andres D'Elia
Beyond these collected testimonies,
Clarín
toured some vaccination centers of the Avellaneda and Quilmes districts to interview immunized persons under 59 years of age.
Of those consulted,
less than half had carried a certificate
to prove that they have a risk factor, but all received their dose, after an affidavit.
This newspaper asked the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health why the medical certificates were not being requested.
They responded that the certificate “is being requested, unless there is a registration.
For example, some comorbidities such as diabetics have a record ”, they answered.
In cases where the vaccine has already been given, without presenting proof, the certificates will not be requested later.
“We have already denounced many people for having falsified the registry.
In a campaign that vaccinated 4 million people,
the cases that may
exist
are minimal
”, the spokesmen assured, although they did not give details of how many people were reported and how they were detected.
In the case of irregularities at the Vaccination Point, the Province set up
a system
on the Vacunate portal
to receive complaints from the population
.
At the same time, since March, the public service line 148 has also had an option whereby people interested in filing a complaint can receive advice from the operators.
Clarín
called that hotline, but the operators indicated how to make the complaint from the website and assured this newspaper that there is no general registry of diseases that the Province has to verify that people have a pre-existing disease.
Crossing General Paz
"Go to the Province, they vaccinate faster there", is a phrase that patients with chronic diseases who reside in the City but reside in the Province hear more and more frequently.
The Buenos Aires Government advances in a more staggered manner and with
stricter requirements
than the Province.
In this first stage, those summoned with comorbidities are those between 55 and 59 years old.
When it is finished, it will continue with those who are between 50 and 54. To be vaccinated, you must carry a medical certificate that supports the pathology suffered by the candidate to receive the vaccine, which will put health professionals in a role of a lot of responsibility.
The City assures that it will implement random audits to detect irregularities, in which
medical plates
may
even be removed as part of the sanctions
.
Province does not have controls of these characteristics.
At the Tecnópolis admission point, they acknowledge that if the person is on the list, they will receive the vaccine, even if the address of the DNI is not the one declared.
Photo: Andres D'Elia
Regarding the control of the address in which people live,
Clarín
spoke with workers of the Tecnópolis vaccination center, in the Buenos Aires party of Vicente López, who explained that it is a data that is controlled in the DNI and, in the case if it does not appear, some proof is requested.
"Anyway, if the person appears on the shift, I can't do anything.
The vaccine doesn't matter
," said one of the promoters who worked on the data check.
Studies and certificates
The province's vaccination centers are organized into five stations. 1) The entrance, where the temperature is taken. 2) The point of admission, where the DNI is requested and it is confirmed that the person appears on the shift sheet for the day. 3) The “Prevaccination”, where it is consulted if the person had close contact, if they have an allergic history or symptoms compatible with Covid-19. 4) The "Vaccination", where the doses are applied. 5) And a waiting room, where people wait 30 minutes before leaving to observe that they do not have a history and finally they are given the cardboard that certifies the vaccination.
As this newspaper was able to observe, in the case of vaccination of people with pre-existing diseases, at the pre-vaccination post,
the representatives ask for certificates or directly proceed to an affidavit
.
In some cases, they give you the form for people to fill out and then hand it over signed.
In others, they fill it out directly themselves, during a conversation with people and then ask them to sign it.
In the Prevaccination sector of Tecnópolis, people who did not carry a medical certificate complete an affidavit.
Photo: Andres D'Elia
"It happened a lot that the people who came did not bring the medical certificate," assured a promoter of the Prevaccination post in the Tecnópolis center and explained that in many cases
people say they "did not know
.
"
"It also happens a lot that people with obesity tell us that they are not under treatment yet and do not have a medical diagnosis," he adds.
Regarding the certificate,
different types of documents
are supported
. In some cases, it is a certificate made specifically by a doctor to confirm that he is treating the patient for the disease in question. "In my case, they did not make me fill out the form, because I brought proof that I suffer from an immune disease, which was the last medical result of a study," said a 44-year-old man at the vaccination center located at the Escuela de Popular Music of Avellaneda.
At the same vaccination, Javier González (41) received the first dose of Sputnik V: “It was all spectacular, very fast.
I have grade two obesity and a cardiac issue.
They didn't ask me for a certificate, but in the interview they asked me questions about the diseases I had and
made me sign an affidavit that said I had these diseases
. "
In the registration process from the Vacunate site, I had already indicated the same and also with the status of an affidavit.
Many people are unaware that they have to bring a medical certificate to the vaccination point.
Photo: Andres D'Elia
A few blocks away, at the José María Gatica Sports Center in Villa Domínico, Osvaldo, 60, indicated that in his case he had taken "all the studies he had" to show that he had kidney disease.
"Yes, they asked me for them and they checked them," he said.
"I did not know"
“Did you bring the medical certificate?
Well, then you will be offered a sworn statement to complete proving that you have the disease, "explained a health promoter at the entrance to the vaccination point of the Patio Cervecero de Quilmes.
Silvia Sosa (55) left the vaccination center accompanied by her son and assured that the officials asked her for the medical certificate to verify the pre-existing disease.
"I have hypertension and hyperthyroidism, but
we had not brought any medical certificate, because we did not know that they were going to ask us
, so they gave us a form to fill out and, later, they gave me the vaccine," he said.
“They had signed me up in a place and they didn't tell us that we had to bring a certificate.
They say that when you sign up on the website they do tell you, but I didn't know.
And in the e-mail they sent us to indicate the date of the shift, they did not tell us that a certificate had to be brought, ”he explained.
ACE
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