The Costa Rican Social Security announced that starting this Friday, July 16th and for the next ten days (or while supplies last), vaccines against Covid-19 will be applied for people over 40 years old and up to 57 years old.
No prior appointment required
For this application, 500 thousand Pfizer / BioNTech brand doses will be used, donated by the United States government, and no prior appointment will be required; simply approach the established vaccination points with an identification document.
The vaccinations in charge of the Health Areas, will be immunizing the people assigned to them; however, the spaces provided by the hospitals will be freely accessible to anyone over 40 years of age.
From now on, vaccination against Covid-19 will be opening at a general level, and it will be divided by age groups. Therefore, at this time it will start with the group of 40 to 57 years. “Now we speak by age group, and as more vaccines enter we are going to gradually lower the ages,” explained Mario Mora, from the Health Services Development Directorate of the Social Security.
Of course, where the first dose is applied, in that same place you should be vaccinated with the second dose; That same day the second appointment will be scheduled. For people who do not have an open file with the Social Security or who are not insured, they can include their information through the EDUS application, or on the institution’s website in order to be visible to the services, and to speed up the vaccination process. They can also call the number 905-MiSalud.
The institution also assured that people over 40, with or without risk factors, who have not yet been vaccinated, can also come to receive their first dose. At the beginning of the pandemic, 66% of the people who died from Covid-19 were over 70 years old. This percentage dropped to 26% since the vaccination campaign began, according to data from the Fund.
Dr. Leandra Abarca, from Epidemiological Surveillance, recalled waiting 14 days if the person interested in acquiring immunization against Covid-19 has already applied the immunization against Influenza. The authorities call for order when queuing to apply the vaccine in the chosen areas, as well as maintaining the use of a mask, and social distancing.
