The vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford received the endorsement of the Costa Rican Ministry of Health this past Friday, February 26th. The country’s health authorities authorized its use in national territory based on the conditional marketing authorization granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Official press release
“This authorization is given after the evaluation of the Directorate for the Regulation of Health Products Interest (DRPIS), of the Ministry of Health, which received on February 24th, the request for authorization on emergency use of the AstraZeneca vaccine together with the requirements that demonstrate the quality, safety and efficacy of this vaccine. Once the application and the documents provided have been reviewed (such as a certified letter of the conditional marketing authorization issued by the EMA, an affidavit confirming that the product offered corresponds in every way to the product authorized by EMA, pharmacological information and labeling, as well as certificates of good manufacturing practices) it is concluded that they are compliant are notified today, February 26th, for the authorization of the vaccine,” the Ministry of Health said in a press release.
70% effective
At the moment, it has not been announced when the first doses of this drug will arrive in the country; however, it is estimated that the first deliveries will be made from May. The AstraZeneca vaccine has been shown to be 70% effective (in some cases up to 90%). The initial agreement with the pharmaceutical company is for 3 million doses, for 1.5 million people (requires two doses). The advantage of this drug is that it does not require temperatures as low as that of Pzifer / BioNTech (the other one supplied in Costa Rica), for example.
