 Health Minister, Daniel Salas, said at a press conference on Tuesday that he will criminally denounce health workers who, without real medical reasons, refuse to receive the covid-19 vaccine. - Ministry of Health photo - Health workers refusing covid-19 vaccine without medical reason could be criminally denounced, say authorities |
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Published Wednesday,
April 7, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Health Minister, Daniel Salas, said at a press conference on Tuesday that he will criminally denounce health workers who, without real medical reasons, refuse to receive the covid-19 vaccine. According to Salas, there are health workers who despite knowing scientific facts about the efficiency of vaccines, refuse to accept the science. "As Minister of Health, I will have to file a criminal complaint if they insist (those who refuse to receive the vaccine)," Salas said. "When we have finished the Group A (of the vaccination campaign), I will ask for the lists (of the health workers who rejected the treatment) from Social Security, the Insurance Institute, and the Ministry of Health to conduct criminal complaints, because in fact (they) are directly exposing the patient, not only to a complication but to death."  It is unfortunate that a person who works in the health area makes such a decision, added Salas. "A health professional who has gone through a university, which is precisely (the way they learned) the scientific foundations that put them in front of a patient, the fact of not getting vaccinated is denying that knowledge," Salas said. "It is a matter of great responsibility, respect, and a call that doctors must-have." "We continue to call in the friendliest and most respectful way to all health workers to get vaccinated," Salas said. Minister Salas's statements are in response to the case of a pediatrician who despite working at the National Children's Hospital, refused to be vaccinated against covid-19. The doctor was infected with covid-19 while she was attending children. Due to the risk of infecting patients, the Hospital authorities applied the covid-19 diagnostic test to three children who were in contact with the doctor, before she was sent to quarantine. All three children's test results were negative. The Costa Rican College of Physicians and Surgeons reported that they opened an investigation against this doctor for refusing to receive the vaccine. It is expected that in the next few days, the College will announce the result in this case. The country has imported a total of 865,995 Pfizer vaccines. Today the first charge of 43,200 AstraZeneca doses arrived in the country, according to the Emergency Commission authorities. In December 2020, the government signed an agreement with the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to buy one million doses of its vaccine, AZD1222. The European vaccine has had worrisome side effects causing for Minister Salas to take precautions before releasing the shot in Costa Rica. He will meet with authorities of the National Commission of Vaccination and Epidemiology to analyze the latest data on that treatment released by the World Health Organization and other high-level health agencies such as European Medicines Agency, EMA, before making any decisions. “The EMA is one of the strict, highly rigorous agencies at the regulatory level. The data we have so far are not giving a cause-effect relation (between the Astrazeneca vaccines and very rare cases of unusual blood clots)," Salas said. "There is a temporal relationship between the administration of the vaccine and some blood clots phenomena, but it has not been shown that the vaccine is the cause of the appearance of these issues." The health authorities will analyze a statement that will be delivered between Wednesday and Thursday by the international health agencies to decide whether to apply any change in the application strategy of the AstraZeneca vaccine. All the decisions at the health level that have been made in the management of the pandemic have been based on scientific evidence, added Salas. In Costa Rica, there are 22,989 active infected people in the country, according to the Ministry of Health statistics. Of the 219,846 cases reported since March 2020, there are 3,000 covid-19- related deaths, approximately 1.4% death rate. The pandemic has killed more than 2.8 million people worldwide, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University in the United States. -------------------------- What have you heard of expats experiencing side effects after receiving the covid-19 vaccine? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com         
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