In a statement by the Federation of Nurses and Caregivers, Copas stressed that its members had strictly adhered to official guidelines, and that the fact remains that it is very difficult to determine the origin of an infection cluster. However, according to the federation, the recent outbreaks were definitely not caused by a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Copas states that as far back as December 2020, it had already questioned the government's decision not to vaccinate external staff such as cleaning crews. The federation criticises the government's preference to judge people by their status instead of their function.
Despite Copas' intervention, the authorities had unfortunately also decided against prioritising vaccinations in "assisted living" structures.
In some facilities, staff members did not have the option to receive their jab on site, another factor which Copas thinks has not done much to increase the vaccination rate.
The federation also criticises that there is no information on which staff members actually received the vaccine. Copas thinks that this has less to do with a lack of professionalism on the part of the facilities, and more with data protection and labour laws.
