Covid-19: Vaccination centres should have the capacity to vaccinate 50 people per hour

The centres to be created to speed up the population’s vaccination against Covid-19 must have the capacity to vaccinate around 50 people per hour, an emergency room and a doctor in case of adverse reactions.

According to the guidance of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), these Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVC) must have, as a reference, one or more vaccination modules, each with five posts, so that each nurse is able to vaccinate one person every 6-10 minutes.

They must be spacious and airy, have a cold storage adequate to the specifics of each vaccine,  health professionals with training to vaccinate and act in case of anaphylactic reactions, and emergency equipment to treat these situations.

CVCs, which may be adapted from vaccination points already existing in the National Health Service or from a new infrastructure, must also have access to the National Vaccination Registration and the Management Platform

The DGS guideline that defines these centres stresses that they are necessary to accelerate the population’s vaccination against Covid-19.

They must be constituted in accordance with the regional planning of the Regional Health Administrations, under the coordination of the Clusters of Health Centres (ACES) and Local Health Units (ULS) and in line with the local health authorities, municipalities and other partners locations.

In addition to having to be installed in spacious and airy spaces, they must be easily accessible to people with reduced mobility, have two accesses (entrance and exit), easy parking and access by public transport and be organised to operate in a fluid way, avoiding the crowding of people and ensuring the distance between them.

DGS also advises that, according to the size and geographical location of the CVC, the need for an ambulance to remain on standby is assessed.

As for operation and organization, CVCs must have a reception area, an admission place with service points and access to the computer system to validate the data of the people to be vaccinated and a pre-vaccination waiting area that allows at least 25 people, with the respective safety distance and where the vaccination questionnaire must be filled out.

They must also have individual dedicated areas for vaccination, a post-vaccination surveillance area, where each vaccinated user must remain at least 30 minutes, and with direct access to the outside, plus a vaccine preparation room.

DGS also advises that they have a break area for health professionals and other CVC professionals, with the necessary conditions for food, and sanitary facilities.

As for human resources, the guidance indicates that each module of five vaccination posts must have a doctor / nurse for coordination, five technical assistants for administrative support, two pharmacy technicians / nurses for vaccine preparation, at least five nurses for the administration and one to two nurses to monitor the users after being vaccinated.

There should also be a doctor for emergency situations, and two operational assistants to carry out cleaning and disinfection.

DGS argues that the use of volunteers should be considered to management of the circulation of people to be vaccinated along the circuit in CVCs , “especially for people with disabilities, with reduced mobility, or non-Portuguese speakers”.

According to information available at 08:10 today on the covid19estamoson.gov.pt website,  618,393 have açready been vaccinated with thier first dose, 266,716 have  completed both vaccinations.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/