Vaccination plan, the guarantor of the disabled of Campania asks for priority for people with disabilities

Vaccination plan, the guarantor of the disabled of Campania asks for priority for people with disabilities

The Guarantor of the rights of people with disabilities of the Campania Region, the lawyer Paolo Colombo, having received numerous reports in this regard, asks that the priority to be given to people with disabilities be clearly expressed in the vaccination plan.
“The administration of the vaccine – declares the Guarantor – must be intended, in particular, for the guests of the “Residenze sanità per disabili” and the “Centri diurni per disabili”, considering the report “Abbonati” by Amnesty International which revealed that in these structures there are violations and failure to protect the right to life, health and non-discrimination of elderly and disabled patients by the institutions, considering above all the high risk of outbreaks in these structures and the particular fragility of the guests.”

“We need to guarantee and ensure full access to care and health in conditions of safety and accessibility, even with respect to different disabilities, starting with future vaccines that must be guaranteed for all people with disabilities and people with clinical conditions of particular risk, and not only for those who are hospitalized, respecting their individual freedom of choice and that of their families.”
“In a second phase of the vaccination campaign – continues lawyer Paolo Colombo – the “most fragile subjects” were indicated by the Extraordinary Commissioner for the Covid-19 emergency as the recipients of the vaccine doses together with the elderly and those with serious pre-existing pathologies.

However, it is not yet clear to everyone whether this definition includes people with severe disabilities and who are not self-sufficient, as well as those who benefit from integrated home care. These people are doubly exposed to the risk of infection, both because their medical conditions can lead in many cases to a worsening of the course of the Covid-19 disease, and in reference to a more complex picture, which affects the broader sphere of life of the people themselves and of those who take care of and care for them. They must therefore be considered among those to be vaccinated as a priority.”

“From this perspective, it should also be considered that the risk of contagion is particularly high for people who are not self-sufficient and have mental disabilities, given the extreme difficulty in strictly respecting safety measures in everyday life.

At the same time, the low propensity of these people to collaborate, especially when they are deprived of the assistance of those who normally take care of them, proves to be an additional risk factor, especially in a hospital setting (for example in the case of hospitalization for Covid-19 infection)”.

“It is therefore important – concludes the Guarantor – that these needs are given due consideration in the preparation of the plans and that, in the same institutional communication, reassurance is given that priority will also be extended to people with disabilities hosted in the facilities and to those who fall within the most vulnerable categories regardless of their anagraphic data.”