Alex Trelinski
THE list of Costa Blanca politicians getting COVID-19 vaccines ahead of priority categories has grown to include Orihuela’s Health Councillor, Jose Galliano.
The PSOE socialist mayors of El Verger and Els Poblets have already been suspended by their party for getting a queue-jumping jab from a local health centre.
The Partido Popular(PP) mayor of La Nucia, Bernabe Cano, along with the town’s health councillor also received early vaccinations and face a PP probe.
Orihuela’s Jose Galiano, a PP councillor, got his vaccination at the San Francisco nursing home on January 6, and said: “Due to my work, I am exposed to the virus daily as I visit health centres and elderly residences across the area.”
Galiano’s is a nurse but his political responsibilities mean that he has been on a leave of absence for the last 18 months.
“I was visiting the nursing home and when they told me there were excess doses, I agreed to have an injection because if I didn´t, it was simply going to be thrown away,” he commented.
The rules clearly state that only staff and residents in nursing homes along with health workers should be given the first batch of vaccinations against the coronavirus.
The political party, Cambiemos Orihuela, has called on Galiano to resign.
In a statement, they said:” It is intolerable that the Health Councillor has used his position to get a vaccination and if there are surplus doses, then should be provided to the most vulnerable people.”
