This past Tuesday, the President of the Republic Carlos Alvarado, assured that, by the end of March, a total of 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines should have been received in the country. “It is my understanding that this commitment will be fulfilled with the shipments from the Pfizer company,” he said, during an activity of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
On the other hand, Alvarado acknowledged that the Government has handled certain data with secrecy. “We have estimates but, as I said, that is something that we are releasing once it is confirmed,” the President declared.
Official Figures
With the arrival of the sixth batch, this past Tuesday night, the country received 79,560 units. With this, the total dose amounts to a total of 183,885, which is equivalent to 24.5% of the 750,000 vaccines that should be available by the end of March. This means that in the next six weeks, the country should receive a total of 566,115 thousand doses, which translates into a weekly delivery of 94,352.
A strong commitment
“Indeed, what we assumed as a commitment, last January, when the communication was made and also in the conversations we have had throughout these weeks is that, from the first admission there must be a recovery plan, a schedule that has remained so that, as of March 31, we receive all the doses that were agreed to receive until that date. We are talking about 750,000 doses that would have to already be in our country by that date,” said the President.
The first delivery, with 9,750 vaccines, entered Costa Rica on December 23, 2020. Days later, the Government announced that the weekly delivery would increase to 33,000 per week. However, due to high global demand for COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer suspended shipments in order to rethink production and delivery processes.
Hermeticism
“The verifications of the quantities are done weekly. Also, because we are within the framework of the contract, we are very wise when it comes to advancing, to say how many doses are. That is why we wait until having absolute confirmation, to make it public,” Alvarado argued.
This recognition explains the refusal of the government spokepersons to give more information about the shipment that arrived at night. Although consulted repeatedly, the officials refuse to indicate the number of doses that are arriving.
In addition to this, the Costa Rican authorities received confirmation of arrival until the morning of this past Tuesday. This, despite the fact that, since last week, governments such as Mexico and Guatemala shared detailed information with the public giving details for the arrival of Pfizer vaccines in their respective countries.
