The vice president and spokesperson of the Consell, Mónica Oltra, said today that she is “proud of the Valencian people for the response to the vaccine, satisfied with the work carried out since the beginning of the pandemic and hopeful, because we not only have a vaccine that will end the pandemic but also because in the Valencian Community we have opted for a social vaccine that makes us feel proud and proud of a people that walks together and leaves no one behind. ”
For the vice president, the summary of the year can be explained with three concepts: firstly, “the pride of the Valencian men and women in the response to both vaccination and the measures that have had to be taken during the pandemic.”
Secondly, he highlighted the “seriousness” and “responsibility of the Consell with the measures adopted to overcome the crisis generated and the fact of having approved” since March 2020 “agreements worth 1,6 billion euro.”
Third, he referred to the “social vaccine, which is the concept of how we want to get out of this crisis, which is in a totally opposite way to 2008, of cuts, inequality and selfish corruption. Right now clearly no one can be left behind. ”
Oltra made these statements after the press conference of the last plenary session of the Consell of the year, in which she took stock of the time elapsed since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020 and specifically in the year 2021.
In the first place, the vice president stressed that this time Valencian society “has understood that the vaccine is a symbol of solidarity and hope to end the pandemic.”
Thus, “in the face of the messages of those who have tried to lead us down the path of selfishness and noise -she pointed out- the Valencians have responded responsibly; choosing the path of the community, we have gone from thinking about the self to caring of us all”.
In this sense, she stressed that the citizens of the Community have received the vaccine to “protect ourselves from the virus and also because it is a way of caring for those around us”, which has led us to be “one of the regions in Europe with the highest vaccination rate, over 90%. ”
She also recalled that the Valencian Government “already asked in February that the patents for vaccines be released”, I understand that “only universal vaccination will allow a global solution to the pandemic” and that “we can only get out together” from this situation.
Measures promoted by the Consell
On the other hand, Oltra has highlighted that in these almost two years of pandemic the Consell “has acted with responsibility and seriousness”, deploying a series of measures aimed, “above all, to save lives, but also accompanied by policies to help the sectors most affected by the crisis “.
Specifically, she stressed that the Plenary of the Consell has approved agreements and decrees “worth 1,622,910,227.42 euro”, a figure that is “a response to having listened to what the Valencians have asked us and needed” .
Among these investments to fight the pandemic and its consequences in these almost two years, the purchase of sanitary materials has stood out; aid companies and workers in ERTE “to compensate for the anguish and the bad situation generated by the economic crisis” or to compensate “the effort of professionals on the front line”.
Also to “start schools safely; to reinforce hospital services with one of the best health care in the world; to support social services that protect the most vulnerable people in our society; to create a successful vaccination system, that they already wanted in most countries, or to sustain the lives of thousands of families who are having a very bad time. ”
Support for the most vulnerable groups
Finally, she wanted to highlight the aid and measures for the most vulnerable groups promoted by the Consell since March 2020 through the Department of Equality and Inclusive Policies and the city councils to reinforce social services, which have become “a social shield” so that no one is left behind.
Among them, she has referred to the more than 100 million euro destined to reinforce municipal social services and primary care, to which is added the reinforcement of mental health units and Xarxa Jove with teams of psychologists to attend to the consequences of this pandemic or the expansion of the Valencian Inclusion Income to 230 million euro that have already been paid since the start of the pandemic.
