The Prosecutor's Office has withdrawn at the last moment the accusations against the former health officials who were accused of "discriminating" against National Police and Civil Guard officers in the covid vaccination plan. The accusation affected former ministers Alba Vergés and Josep Maria Argimon, former Secretary General of Health Marc Ramentol, former CatSalut director Adrià Comella, and former services director Xavier Rodríguez Guasch.

It is the turn of the former Minister of Health Alba Vergés to explain herself at the trial for the vaccination against covid of the National Police and Civil Guard officers stationed in Catalonia. In her statement, she focused on explaining that they always followed the criteria set by the Interterritorial Council of Health on the vaccination strategy, even when it was decided to prioritize AstraZeneca doses for people between 55 and 65 years old. This, she clarified, did not prevent essential worker groups – such as police officers, healthcare personnel, or teachers – from continuing to receive doses, but it had to be done "as vaccines became available." In fact, when directly asked, she denied giving any order to delay vaccination for the officers.

The former Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, testified early in the trial for the COVID vaccination of national police and civil guards stationed in Catalonia. The then director of the Catalan Health Institute and Secretary of Public Health assured that the decision to limit the AstraZeneca vaccine to the 60 to 65 age group – whether or not they were essential workers – was a decision of the Interterritorial Health Council and "did not pose any ethical conflict" nor in the epidemiological field, because it prioritized people most vulnerable to the virus. Nevertheless, he was in favor of continuing to vaccinate all officers, because the logistics were already in place, and he communicated this to the minister Alba Vergés.

New round of witnesses in the trial for allegedly "discriminating" against national police and civil guards with covid vaccines. After the commanders of both forces cleared the defendants, among whom are former ministers Josep Maria Argimon and Alba Vergés, this Monday it was the turn of other former Health directors to explain themselves. Among them, Vergés's advisor who sent a key message in the investigation of the case, in which she said: "Once again, the minister asks to stop Civil Guard and National Police. We cannot justify it. We should stop it".

The testimony of those responsible for the covid vaccination of National Police and Civil Guard agents in Catalonia has been a cold shower for police unions that accuse former heads of the Health department of having "discriminated" against them compared to the Mossos d'Esquadra. The second day of the trial of former councilors Alba Vergés and Josep Maria Argimon focused on the statements of the commanders of these two forces who organized the vaccination of their agents stationed in Catalonia, and both stressed that they spoke daily with their interlocutor at Health, Xavier Rodríguez Guasch, about whom they said he always had a good disposition for coordination.

The arrival of more doses and the opening of mass vaccination points have accelerated the pace of vaccination in Catalonia. Thus, this Saturday the Health Department has reported for the first time that in one day more than 100,000 Catalans have received a dose of the vaccine against covid-19. In total, 106,000 people have been vaccinated in Catalonia in the last 24 hours: 55,877 first doses and 50,123 second doses have been injected. Thus, in total, 23.9% of Catalans have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 10.9% have already received the full course.

"We are in a fragile moment," said Catalan Health Minister Alba Vergés on the evolution of the pandemic in Catalonia, and the data certify it. After a week balancing below the maximum threshold set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the percentage of positive tests has risen slightly above 5% (5.11% of PCR and antigen tests that have been carried out in the last 7 days have been positive). In addition, the speed of spread of the virus (Rt) has grown significantly (from 0.92 to 0.95) and could reach 1 this week. On the other hand, there are five fewer patients in ICUs in Catalonia. This means we will have to wait to see how these indicators behave in the next updates to confirm new trends.

Salvador Illa announced a few days ago that Olga Pané, current manager of the Hospital del Mar, would be his Minister of Health if he were to become president of Catalonia. Laura Borràs made a surprise announcement during the debate on TV3 pointing out the name of the current secretary of Public Health, Josep Maria Argimon, and stating he would be her Health Minister. Of the three parties that, according to the polls, dispute the victory on 14-F, it only remains to be known who would occupy the position of Health Minister if it depended on ERC. And, in spite of the fact that the republicans have in their list the current Minister of Health, Alba Vergés, the head of list, Pere Aragonès, has avoided on Wednesday to confirm her continuity. "I will wait for the results of 14-F before assigning responsibilities", he answered when asked by Lídia Herèdia on Els matins de TV3. "From 14 February we can start talking about names", he insisted when asked a second time. And, on the third, he stressed that " Minister Vergés has done an extraordinary job", but he did not confirm she would continue.