The first effective consequence of the controversial vaccination of military and civil positions in the Defense Staff (EMAD), as in the case of the operational chief of the Armed Forces, General Miguel Ángel Villarroya, has come from the Ministry of the Interior. The department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska agreed yesterday afternoon the immediate cessation of the liaison officer of the Civil Guard in the EMAD, as confirmed by military sources to this newspaper.
The decision was made after learning that the lieutenant colonel, a dependent of the Interior, had been part of the vaccination process in this military institution. After collecting all the relevant reports and analyzing the documentation, the ministry has decreed his sudden departure. The same sources justify it by the “Lack of exemplarity”. The Civil Guard liaison officer in the EMAD is a freely appointed position appointed by the ministry, so the military will be reinstated in another unit of the armed institute with a different role.
The reaction of the department of Grande-Marlaska came just a few hours after it was known that the JEMAD and other members of the “operational command structure” of the Defense General Staff took advantage of the vaccination program against the coronavirus, as confirmed by sources of this institution. Despite the fact that in the EMAD they defend the correct application of their protocol, the Minister of Defense, Margaret Robles, ordered General Villaroya a report to learn the details of the use of the first doses in case it was necessary to clarify responsibilities.
“Depending on what you say, we’ll see”said the minister yesterday after admitting that she learned the news from the media. “Within the general plan of the Armed Forces, the General Staff was planned. I cannot make any decisions because I do not know how it is developing until the JEMAD gives me the corresponding information, “he added.
However, Robles supported that the EMAD works “always” with “a lot of rigor” and put his hand on fire by ensuring that vaccinations have not been extended to the ministry. «We are not within the provisions of the Ministry of Health: residences, health personnel and then strategic personnel “, he stated. Within this protocol, the staff of the Gómez Ulla Defense Hospitals in Madrid and General de Zaragoza are receiving the vaccine, although both within the program of their respective autonomous communities.
The EMAD protocol
In the case of the controversial EMAD protocol, a spokesperson for this institution explained that the Armed Forces have been assigned by Health a quota of vaccines – it is unknown how many – apart from those that are distributed among the communities to be supplied, in the first place, health personnel and residents in senior centers. Within that amount, to the Defense Staff «Corresponds to a percentage for which established an order of priorities: first to the health personnel of the department, then to the military who are going to participate in international or national missions, such as ‘Baluarte’, and, finally, to the command structure «. In the latter case, following an age criterion, from oldest to youngest.
According to this explanation, the EMAD has already received the first puncture all its medical personnel and the troops that will be part of international operations, such as those who will soon embark for the Atalanta anti-piracy mission. Once this phase was completed, these sources add, the third group was started, including the JEMAD or the Civil Guard liaison officer who was dismissed yesterday by Grande-Marlaska after collecting all the data.
The news of the vaccination quickly had a political echo and United we can He requested the resignation of General Villarroya without even waiting to hear his version. The ball is now in Robles’ court, who will have to make a decision about the JEMAD after receiving his report. In addition, the PSOE added more indirect pressure yesterday after asking his public officials to resign if they skip the vaccination process, as has already happened with several councilors, because the party «Does not allow this type of unsupportive attitudes «.
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