These six million doses, which are purchased through the National Emergency Commission, will protect three million people against SARS-CoV-2, as there are two doses per person. According to the bilateral agreements, the vaccines will begin to enter the country in the first quarter of next year, although an exact date for the shipment of the vaccines is not yet available.
Establishing prioritization
In addition, the National Vaccination and Epidemiology Commission is working on the groups to be vaccinated and prioritization is being carried out according to the risk of each segment of the population, so that older adults, people with risk factors and first responders will be the first to receive the medicine.
The vaccination campaign will be carried out through the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and health personnel will assess the medical risk factors of each case to determine the relevance of the vaccination.
Finally, the health authorities explained that the six million doses that the country is acquiring will not arrive at the same time, so vaccination will be deferred in the different months throughout the year 2021; They also detailed that the product is not suitable for children under 18 years of age.
President Alvarado said that he hopes that this entry of vaccines will strengthen the country’s exit from the Pandemic and support processes of return to normality (such as, for example, the face-to-face resumption of the school year) but reiterated the called not to lower the guard, especially during these Christmas holidays.
“Although this (vaccination) is going to advance significantly, we have to be patient and follow the measures for a safe December, because we want that when the vaccine arrives it will be for everyone, without an increase in the number of infected people or deaths”, finalized the President.
Andrea Mora
The President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, announced this afternoon that Costa Rica will grant authorization for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the country in the next few hours.
This was indicated by the President in the COVID-19 report press conference on tuesday, in which he pointed out that the provision is taken after the authorization granted by the United States FDA to the vaccine, days ago.
“In the next few hours we await the homologation for the first vaccine against COVID-19 in the case of Costa Rica. Following the guidelines that has been put out in the United States for the Pfizer vaccine, we hope that Costa Rica will have its vaccination process approved in the next few hours and this will be a decisive step for Costa Rica”, declared the President.
According to data recapitulated by the Government of the Republic the previous week, so far the country has signed three agreements for the purchase of vaccine: that of Pfizer-BioNTech (which would provide the country with three million doses), that of AstraZeneca-Oxford ( that will supply one million additional doses) and the COVAX initiative of the World Health Organization (which will grant two million more doses).
These six million doses, which are purchased through the National Emergency Commission, will protect three million people against SARS-CoV-2, as there are two doses per person. According to the bilateral agreements, the vaccines will begin to enter the country in the first quarter of next year, although an exact date for the shipment of the vaccines is not yet available.
Establishing prioritization
In addition, the National Vaccination and Epidemiology Commission is working on the groups to be vaccinated and prioritization is being carried out according to the risk of each segment of the population, so that older adults, people with risk factors and first responders will be the first to receive the medicine.
The vaccination campaign will be carried out through the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and health personnel will assess the medical risk factors of each case to determine the relevance of the vaccination.
Finally, the health authorities explained that the six million doses that the country is acquiring will not arrive at the same time, so vaccination will be deferred in the different months throughout the year 2021; They also detailed that the product is not suitable for children under 18 years of age.
President Alvarado said that he hopes that this entry of vaccines will strengthen the country’s exit from the Pandemic and support processes of return to normality (such as, for example, the face-to-face resumption of the school year) but reiterated the called not to lower the guard, especially during these Christmas holidays.
“Although this (vaccination) is going to advance significantly, we have to be patient and follow the measures for a safe December, because we want that when the vaccine arrives it will be for everyone, without an increase in the number of infected people or deaths”, finalized the President.
