The National Commission of Vaccination and Epidemiology (CNVE) of Costa Rica approved today the immunization against COVID-19 of women who are breastfeeding, under prior signing of informed consent.
When reporting its most recent agreements, the CNVE – made up of representatives of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) and the Costa Rican Pediatric Association – maintained the contraindication of the vaccine for pregnant women.
Regarding the immunization of those who work in the private health service, it specified that in clinics and hospitals with emergency services, intensive care units or COVID-19 patients, staff will be vaccinated in coordination with these centers.
Meanwhile, the staff of independent clinics that do not treat Pandemic patients will be vaccinated in coordination with professional associations. In both cases, the Minsa and the CCSS will contact the entities for the respective coordination in logistics.
Immunization plan gradually under way
Since last December 24th, Costa Rica began immunization against COVID-19 to the first of the five groups established according to a risk category, made up of first responders to the Pandemic -health workers, police, firefighters, and the Red Cross, among others-, as well as older adults and employees of long-stay care homes.
Regarding the second group, those over 58 years of age, the CNVE announced that when vaccination begins, they will prioritize the oldest of the elderly, moving forward with vaccination appointments under the list from older to younger.
More vaccines acquired
Costa Rica has signed contracts to acquire six million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 with three suppliers: Pfizer / BioNTech (three million), AstraZeneca-Oxford (one million), and the COVAX initiative of the World Health Organization (two million) to immunize three million people throughout 2021.
This Monday, the Government announced the purchase of anti-COVID-19 vaccines for 640,800 more people, in order to increase to 3 million 705 thousand 638 inhabitants to be immunized against this disease.
