It was the turn of port workers to be vaccinated in Paraná. Along with other priority groups, according to the State Vaccination Plan against Covid-19, the professional category will receive the first doses that arrive in the 21st batch of immunizations that the State is to receive from the Ministry of Health. Of the more 390,190 doses, the expectation is that 9,627 are destined for the group.

For the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Logistics, Sandro Alex, the vaccination of port workers is a very important decision in view of the imminence of a new strain. “It is important that workers feel safe in continuing to work and the state is safe with the continuity of activity,” he says.

According to him, the group of workers in the ports of Paranaguá and Antonina involves all categories of Individual Port Workers (TPAs), companies and maritime agencies that operate in the ports of Paraná.

For the director of business development at Portos do Paraná, André Pioli, the need for port workers to be vaccinated is extreme. The service did not stop and continues to move the economy of the State and Brazil. “Now, the priority is to work for these vaccines to come soon so that we can immunize everyone,” he says.

Vaccination of workers, according to Pioli, will reassure workers’ families and the local community. “Immunized, the worker will have even more tranquility when he returns home. That is why the need for vaccination to occur as soon as possible ”, he says.

STRATEGY – Last Monday (24), André Pioli met with the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Logistics, Sandro Alex, the mayor of Paranaguá, Marcelo Roque, the municipal secretary of Health, Ligia Regina de Campos Cordeiro, and the director of the 1st Regional Health, José Carlos de Abreu, to reinforce the need for the category’s immunization.

José Carlos de Abreu, director of the 1st Regional Health, says that the agency, which represents the State Department of Health on the Coast, now awaits technical guidance and the definition of the date for sending the new shipment, which has not yet been defined.

“Important is that it is already defined that vaccines will come to port workers. This week we will continue to discuss locally the strategies for applying these doses, trying to accelerate ”, comments Abreu.

According to him, the vaccination of the category, both in Paranaguá and in Antonina, will be coordinated by the municipal health secretariats. However, the logistics of the process will continue to be discussed with Portos do Paraná and with the State Government. “We are even open to looking for alternatives, considering the specificity of port work,” he says.

Regarding the number of workers that would be among the port workers, it is estimated that there are 13,545 people, but without discounting the public that would have already received the immunizers in other stages of the Vaccination Plan.

According to the State Department of Health, the vaccines that will come in this shipment are from the partnership between the Osvaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), AstraZeneca and Oxford University. In addition to port workers, the new doses will also be applied to people with comorbidities and permanent disabilities, professionals from the security and rescue forces, the Armed Forces and air transport workers.

CARE – Since the pandemic began, Portos do Paraná has been taking all necessary precautions, including sanitary barriers for medical and nursing teams, in the access to the pier and the Screening Patio, 24 hours a day.

“No adjustment was necessary after the discovery of this new Indian strain of the virus. We continue, as from the beginning, taking all necessary care so that the disease does not spread here ”, guarantees André Pioli.

Following the guidelines of the national agencies, the crew of the ships continue without authorization to disembark in the ports of Paraná, except for fundamental issues such as medical and dental consultations, legal issues and change of crew.

Since the beginning of the sanitary barriers in the Port of Paranaguá, on March 25, 2020, until the last April 30, there have already been 1,871,270 screenings with temperature measurements. Of this total, 2,322 workers received medical assistance; 313 people had symptoms of Covid-19; the suspected cases of the disease were 282, of which 248 were discarded and 30 were referred to the municipal health system.

So far the public company has invested more than R $ 11 million in combating Covid-19.

Source: Portos do Paraná