Pioneer.Araceli, 96, first woman vaccinated against Covid in Spain
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And finally came the day.
The earliest Spain was able to see yesterday how Araceli, 96, was the first person to receive the Covid vaccine in Spain.
Thus began a hopeful period for a country that has been, since March, in a kind of time capsule and that little by little hopes to get out of this lethargy.
After crossing herself, at around 09:00, Araceli received a puncture that barely caused a slight itch.
And that's it.
She thanked God for being the pioneer, waited for 15 minutes sitting down and went to breakfast so "quietly."
Then it was the turn of
Mónica Tapias
, the youngest nursing assistant at the Los Olmos residence (Guadalajara), the place chosen for which it became one of the events of the year.
Now without the spotlights or the cameras of TVE, the only channel that was allowed to broadcast the act, the vaccination continued its course with the rest of the workers and the elderly.
Or almost.
As confirmed by the director of the residence, Marina Vadillo,
about 98% of the employees
and "a very high percentage of the residents"
agreed to inject the doses
.
Specifically 87.5%.
Asked by those who chose not to sign the consent, Vadillo explained:
"The beliefs of the elderly are very important and must be respected."
The director herself, showing off government accounting, stated that only two deaths from Covid had died at her residence in the first wave, although TVE reported that there were 13: two diagnosed and 11 with compatible symptoms.
Luckier was the
San Bartolomé residence, in Horche, 12 kilometers from Los Olmos
.
During the pandemic they did not mourn any losses from the coronavirus.
The second shipment of vaccines arrived there, which began to be injected at 10.20 am.
Except for one worker and one resident, everyone in this residential center went through the Pfizer hoop.
Although its director, Francisco Mancebo, confessed his initial thought to this newspaper: «Between 60 and 70% of the workers, myself included, did not want to be vaccinated.
But we saw that it had to be done
.
If only one person is not vaccinated, nothing happens, but there were too many of us.
Our doctor also encouraged and reassured us to do it and, from there, we all launched.
A surprising request
In a nod to the rural environment, the last doses supplied yesterday traveled to Lupiana, to the La Luz residence, where having coverage depends on your mobile operator.
The manager of this center, Alberto Calleja, received an email on Tuesday 22, at 12 noon, with a request that surprised him: to collect the data of workers and residents in an Excel.
And written in red, a request: deliver before 3:00 p.m.
«I called them and told them that this was impossible ... Some relatives asked me for more time to think about it.
I delivered it at three, but the next day, "said Calleja.
With the Excel filled in, so that Health can register those who do not want to be vaccinated, the manager was notified on Thursday 24 that the vaccination would begin on Sunday.
And it was yesterday, at 1:13 p.m., when two private cars entered the premises.
Three doctors and two assistants who removed the vials and other utensils from the back of a Peugeot 307.
"I imagined an ambulance,"
smiles Calleja.
Of the 32 residents they house, four refused to sign the consent.
One because he is very old, another because when he got the flu vaccine, he got a swelling and he did not want to hear about more vaccines ... And an anti-vaccine, who never got any.
Instead, its 16 workers willingly agreed to prick themselves in the arm.
“
Some employees got excited
... And the grandparents expressed great joy, they already see the light at the end of the tunnel.
They have been locked up for so long without seeing the families, without being able to hug them ... The vaccine has restored their happiness, "concludes Calleja.
At the gates of La Luz was the son of Isabel, an 84-year-old woman who lives in the center, whom he had not seen for several months.
«She is no longer aware of anything.
I am his tutor and I have agreed to have it put on, but I don't think he will know.
For her it will be one more prick, like the flu ... Although I don't think she remembers that they gave her the flu either ».
At the same door, but with renewed enthusiasm, Sara and Laura, two nurses with eight and 13 years who worked in this residence, were finishing their day, respectively.
"Doubts?
A lot.
There was no information.
They tell you: 'no allergic, not those who take oral anticoagulants, nor those who are with oncologists ... then they say yes ... We would have appreciated more information, "says Sara, who was only afraid for her husband.
“He also works here and is allergic to everything except latex.
You have the doubt, you don't know ... », he weighs.
At his side, Laura is more energetic: «My whole family was very happy, they told me it was a luck and a privilege.
I am very happy, although they have warned us that until long after we are vaccinated we will have to continue with a mask ».
Who did not suffer the same fate was another colleague, the first to leave the enclosure once the vaccination began.
She could not be immunized after presenting symptoms of a cold.
"They told me that it was better not to get vaccinated, to go to a medical center to see how to act."
And until the emergency department that he left, where they performed an antigen test that came back negative.
At the moment he will have to wait until January 18 to take the first dose, while his companions complete the cycle with the second.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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