“If a worker in a nursing home, in a social-health centre and who is in contact with vulnerable people does not want to be vaccinated against covid, they should look for another job“. The was bluntly put by the president of the Consell de Ibiza, Vicent Marí yesterday. “ You can not put at risk the health of residents, which are elderly people, many of them with medical conditions and who need a lot of care because those who care for them have not wanted to be vaccinated,” he continued. “Individual freedom does not mean putting the lives of others at risk“, he insists, so he believes that employees who do not have the full vaccination schedule should look for another job “or ask for a leave of absense”, but at no time should they be with vulnerable people.
The president asks these more than a hundred workers of the health centers of the island that have not yet been vaccinated “to exercise responsibility. In Ibiza, more than 140 of the 933 professionals of the residences have not received even the first dose.
Marí confesses that he would be in favour of forcing these professionals to be vaccinated by law, however, he reminds us that “this does not depend on the Autonomous Communities, but on the central government” which, according to the island president, “should change a state regulation”. “We are in a pandemic and the laws should be adapted to the situation we are living,” says Marí, who believes that while it is not possible to force vaccination of workers who are in contact with the most vulnerable, measures should be taken to ensure, as far as possible, that they are not infected, such as regular checks several times a week, which is what is being done now in the islands. “They are measures to encourage vaccination, but it does not seem to be working,” reflects the president of the Consell de Ibiza, who understands the complaints of families to have their visits so restricted even though they are vaccinated, while workers have access every day without being vaccinated.