The Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, has dismissed the year today with a visit to the Mobile Vaccination Teams (EMV) that the Ministry of Defence has made available to the Autonomous Communities that request it and that will mobilise more than 1,000 military personnel to help fight the sixth wave of the coronavirus, within the ‘Mission Baluarte’ operation.
Robles has travelled to the Institute of Defence Preventive Medicine, in Madrid, where he has been able to verify the operation of these mobile units formed by teams of between four and six soldiers and with the capacity to travel to any point of the Spanish geography that is necessary. On this visit, she has been accompanied by the Secretary of State for Defence, Esperanza Casteleiro, and by the Undersecretary of Defence, Amparo Valcarce.
The minister stressed “that vaccination is very important. We are facing a highly contagious variant, although luckily, less serious than the previous ones. That is noticeable if we compare the figures of last year and this one” and she recalled that “you can never lower your guard ”.
“It is essential that everyone gets vaccinated,” she insisted, “that is why the reinforcement that has been agreed is important so that the Armed Forces can vaccinate the civilian population, thanks to the Mobile Vaccination Units that we have made available to the Autonomous Communities to reach every corner, including the ’emptied Spain’ with all kinds of guarantees ”.
The Defence Minister has called for everyone to get vaccinated, because the vaccine is life insurance, both for the person who receives it and for the people around them.
“In the three or four days that we have been vaccinating, it has been observed that people are going to the places where we are. This highlights the sense of responsibility of Spaniards, who are massively going to vaccinate and that is why we have a very high percentage of vaccinated people. I would like to thank all the Spaniards who with a sense of responsibility are going to get vaccinated ”, she highlighted.
She also pointed out that the interest in getting vaccinated “has been seen in Aragon and almost in all the provinces of Andalusia (except Huelva) where we are already vaccinating. In the next few days it will begin in other Autonomous Communities. Thus, until completing the 13 that have requested it, in addition to the cities of Ceuta and Melilla”.
THANKS TO THE ARMED FORCES
The Minister of Defence thanked “all the personnel of the Armed Forces, because behind all this device there is a very important preparation of teams of nurses, medical equipment, computer equipment,…. Vaccination is a complicated process but it saves many lives ”.
Regarding the possibility of carrying out diagnostic tests, the minister has indicated that “the mission of the Armed Forces is to always be at the disposal of what citizens need and that if the Ministry of Health and the Autonomous Communities assessed it, it would be done.”
“There are our military trackers doing scans, previous appointments were also made for vaccination, availability is absolute. I want to value the great preparation of our Armed Forces on the subject of vaccination,” she concluded.
The Defence Minister has been informed by Lieutenant Colonel Gil of how the vaccination process is being carried out and of the personal and material resources they have. She has also indicated that in this operation, the Army must also collect the filiation data of the patients, who must fill in documents about their medical history, as well as sign an informed consent. After the vaccine, the patient’s data will be transferred to the National Vaccination Registry.
In addition, she stressed that the presence of an ambulance and medical personnel in these EMVs are provided for by the vaccination of the elderly and people with previous illnesses. It is, as indicated, a forecast for possible adverse reactions or the need to transfer to a hospital.
For his part, the medical director of the Central Defence Hospital recalled the work of the Hospital in caring for Covid patients and stated that “the objective of Military Health is to support Spanish society wherever we are needed.”
MOBILE VACCINATION EQUIPMENT (EMV)
In the most complete case, the teams are made up of a driver, two nursing officers, a medical officer (depending on whether there is a doctor in the place where each team operates) and administrative / IT personnel to carry out administrative management and the registration, as well as two vehicles (an Advanced Life Support ambulance and another for the transfer of equipment).
In addition to the vaccination teams and due to the increase in infections by Covid-19, the Ministry of Defence has made available to the autonomies the ‘Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital, Life and Hope Health Centre’, in Madrid, and the ‘Hospital General de la Defensa’, in Zaragoza, where this week the vaccination of citizens began.
Along the same lines and also within the framework of the ‘Mission Bastion’ operation, more than 1,500 military personnel are already dedicated to collaborating with the Autonomous Communities in tracking Covid-19 cases and close contacts.
