On the night of February 16th, the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer resumed the delivery of its Vaccines against the novel Coronavirus to Costa Rica, with a batch of 79,560 doses of the drug; the largest shipment the company has made since it began supplying the country on December 23rd.
This delivery is the sixth that the Government of the Republic receives from the company and marks the resumption of the flow of its product, after Pfizer notified a suspension of this last February 21nd, due to an adjustment of its global logistics, with which it aims to increase its production and distribution capacity of the vaccine.
Through a statement, the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention (CNE) reported that the batch – preserved at a temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius (° C) – arrived at the Juan Santamaría International Airport, in Alajuela, around 9:00 pm on DHL AERO EXPRESO flight 231, from Miami, Florida, in the United States.
The reception was attended by President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, First Lady Claudia Dobles Camargo and the Executive President of the institution in charge of emergency care, Alexander Solís Delgado.
Commitment to carry on
Hours earlier, the last of the leaders reaffirmed the commitment made by Pfizer and the German laboratory BioNTech to speed up deliveries after the break, to comply with the shipment of 750,000 immunizers no later than March 31, as established in the beginning. the agreement signed with the supplier. Details of the schedule and amounts agreed for the next few weeks were not provided in the press release.
Of the total number of vaccines that were admitted, 80% -that is, 63,648 doses- will be used to initiate vaccination of the second priority group made up of adults over 58 years of age. The planning will be carried out according to what each health area has, but from older to younger. Likewise, the President invited the population to keep their contact information updated in the application of the Unique Digital Health Record (EDUS), or to provide it to their respective medical establishment.
On the other hand, the remaining 20% of what was received -15,912 doses- will be used to immunize the first priority group, made up of personnel from the first line of response to the Pandemic as well as the elderly and workers of long-stay homes .
Feeding hope
“This positive news continues to feed hope. It is time to redouble care and continue the fight against the Virus. Vaccination is the fundamental tool to move Costa Rica forward, since in addition to protecting public health, it stimulates economic recovery of the country and allows reducing the negative impacts of this pandemic that has proven so much to us,” said the President.
Vaccinations continue their schedule
The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) placed 96,948 vaccines -between first and second doses- throughout the national territory, according to its most recent balance, published on February 15. In the country, a total of 42,553 citizens have already completed their scheme – that is, they received the two injections recommended by Pfizer and BioNTech – and another 11,842 had just their first doses given. The National Emergency Commission bought 3,000,075 of their vaccines for 1,500,038 people (29% of the population) from these companies for $ 36 million.
