The Prosecutor's Office requests that Vergés and Argimon be disqualified for "discriminating" against police officers and civil guards in the COVID vaccination program.

BarcelonaThe Prosecutor's Office accuses former senior officials of the Department of Health of "discriminating" against the national police officers and civil guards stationed in Catalonia by vaccinating them against COVID-19 much later than the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police officers). The incidents date back to March 2021, when Alba Vergés was a minister. The then director general of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS), who later became a minister, is also accused of disqualification from holding any public office.

The indictment, which ARA has been able to consult, indicates that the department "paralyzed" the vaccination of officers and did not prioritize them over the general population, as it had done with other emergency services. The number of civilians stationed in Catalonia and 3.6% among the national police officers, while in the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force) 77% of officers had already received the vaccine. February 9, 2021, when the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System agreed to prioritize vaccination with AstraZeneca for certain professional groups, including police forces. National Police and Civil Guard delegates to organize vaccinations for officers. Scheduled vaccinations with AstraZeneca had been detected because cases of thrombosis, some of which were even fatal, had been detected. This led to the cancellation of vaccinations for police officers that same day "until sufficient vaccines were available."

A few days later, on March 22, the Consell itself established that this vaccine could be administered again and that from then on, the age group eligible to receive it would be between 60 and 65 years old. At that time, the prosecutor points out, the vaccination rate among national police officers and Civil Guards was already very different from that of other emergency services.

Despite these data, the public prosecution says, the Health leadership decided that "from then on, vaccination would be prioritized for people between 60 and 65 years old, to the detriment of these civil servants, unless they fell within this age range." The prosecutor reproaches that "the defendants were fully aware that this decision was, in fact, discriminating against police officers in state forces, who were left unvaccinated, unprotected against the virus, while most other police forces, whether local or regional, were already protected."

This case is based on the complaint of the unions Jupol and Jucil, who are filing a private lawsuit and are seeking a sentence of three years in prison and another 15 years of disqualification from office. Aside from the criminal case that will be heard in the Barcelona Court of Appeal, the unions also opened contentious proceedings against this vaccination plan. Their lawsuit led the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to accept the precautionary measure they requested and ordered the Health Department to vaccinate officers within a maximum of ten daysThe court also He condemned the Government through contentious proceedings for having "discriminated" against them..