The Prosecutor's Office has asked the Court of Instruction number 17 of Barcelona to urge the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to investigate the former Minister of Health and current first vice president of the Parliament, Alba Vergés, for the delay in the covid vaccination to police and civil guards in Catalonia during the first quarter of 2021. Being an elected official of the Catalan Chamber, Vergés is qualified and therefore it is up to the TSJC to decide whether to investigate her or not.. However, the Investigating Judge must first submit a reasoned statement to the TSJC if he considers that there are indications that the former counselor was responsible for an alleged crime, a decision that could be known shortly according to judicial sources.

The court is about to conclude the investigation into whether former Health officials of the Generalitat committed a crime by late administering the first vaccines against covid to the Police and Civil Guard agents assigned to Catalonia in comparison with other police forces. At that time Vergés was the most responsible for the Department and the application of the vaccination plan. In March 2022, the Prosecutor's Office already urged the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to charge Alba Vergés, who was already vice president of the Parliament, but the magistrates rejected it as they did not appreciate any “action or omission” that could be attributed to her. directly impute in this case. Despite this, the court urged the court to identify those responsible for the alleged delay and therefore the court began to investigate.

Among those charged in this procedure, among others, are the former Minister of Health Josep María Argimon, who during the vaccine administration plan was Secretary of Public Health: Marc Ramentol, former Secretary General of Health, Adrià Comella, former director of the Service Catalan Health, Sara Manjón, former director of the organization area of the Catalan Health Service and operational manager of vaccination and the former secretary of Public Health Maria Carmen Cabezas. They all denied having the authority to decide the group that was going to be vaccinated since they were only dedicated to the organization and assured that the responsibility lay with their superiors.

For this reason, after the court took statements from everyone, witnesses and examined the documentation, the prosecutor once again considers that there are indications that Vergés, the head of the Health Department, could have committed the crimes of prevarication and against the rights of the workers in the delay in the application of the vaccines and that is why they ask the judge to elevate the case to the TSJC.

The Union of the National Police Corps, Police Justice (JUPOL) and the Association of the Civil Guard, Civil Justice (JUCIL) denounced the delay in the vaccination of agents of the National Police and the Civil Guard in Catalonia compared to the Mossos d'Esquadra and the local police. In April 2021, following a request from the police unions through administrative channels, the TSJC ordered the Generalitat to “without any excuse” guarantee “immediately and without delay” the vaccination of the agents, so that in ten days the vaccination rate would be reached. same proportion as in the Mossos d'Esquadra, as finally happened, when appreciating an “appearance of discrimination.”

For the TSJC, the data provided by the Generalitat were “eloquent”, detailing that on April 22, 80.3% of the Mossos troops, 79.1% of the Barcelona Urban Guard and 71.2% of the local police forces, compared to 9.9% of the National Police and 6.3% of the Civil Guard. The Generalitat complied with the order of the TSJC and on May 8, 2021 it had already vaccinated more than 3,700 agents of the National Police and the Civil Guard in Catalonia, equating their situation to that of the Mossos d'Esquadra.

Also the private prosecution representing the Professional Police Union (SPP) recalls that all those investigated in addition to Vergés had between February and May 2021 a “direct and concrete function for the implementation of the vaccination plan” due to the position of responsibility within the Department of Health and that its “duty” was to guarantee “the pertinent actions in order to ensure the protection of all officials, whether state or regional”. However, he emphasizes that those investigated did not issue any order to “promote or at least correct the delay in the start of the vaccination of the Police and Civil Guard” in Catalonia, which began “a month later than the rest of the autonomous groups, nor the suspension of vaccination from March 5 to 10”, when the vaccination plan sent to the Generalitat was validated, nor the temporary suspension on March 24, after the possibility of blood clots in people over 55 years of age with the administration of some vaccines.

The accusations have opposed the request of the accused former officials of the Generalitat to archive the case since they consider that the statement of the former councilor before the TSJC should be heard as investigated in the event that the Barcelona court motivates this request with the new evidence provided after the investigation into the delay in vaccination of Police and Civil Guard officers stationed in Catalonia. The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling of the TSJC that found discriminatory treatment in the Generalitat's vaccination process towards these agents with respect to members of other police forces with the vaccination against covid.