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Published Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Advancements in mass vaccination against covid-19 in Costa Rica By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against covid-19, based on the recognition of the authorization for emergency use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, kicking off the mass vaccination campaign beginning in the first half of 2021.
In October, the government has signed three agreements for the purchase of the vaccine against covid-19, with Pfizer-BioNTech for three million doses. The cost of the purchases has not been disclosed due to a commercial confidentiality agreement required by the companies, the government said.
Also, the government signed an agreement with the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to buy one million doses of its vaccine, AZD1222, developed together with the University of Oxford in England.
According to the government, each dose will be priced at $4, so the estimated price of this purchase is at least $4 million, without including additional distribution costs. Vaccine purchases would be made with funds from the National Emergency Fund that is being used to face the crisis caused by the pandemic. The vaccine would be administered in two sessions, meaning that one million doses would cover half a million people.
The government joined the COVAX-Facility program coordinated by the World Health Organization for two million doses. In the case of COVAX agreement, the first advance payment of $6,316,560, or 30% of the cost, was scheduled to be made in October, the government said in its statement. The payment is based on the $10.55 price tag set by COVAX. The price includes factory costs, access, financing, risk mitigation and operating costs.
These six million doses bought through the National Emergency Commission will protect three million people against covid-19, at two doses per person.
"Costa Rica is acquiring high-quality vaccines in terms of safety and efficacy, previously approved by strict regulatory agencies of the highest level of rigor worldwide," Pedro González, Vice Minister of Health said.
The National Vaccination Commission will soon announce the beginning of the vaccination campaign as well as the population first to be vaccinated. Priority goes to high-risk populations such as the elderly, people with high-risk diseases, health workers and security forces who are at the front line of the pandemic.
Social Security is leading the vaccination plan, currently in the development stage. It is expected for the vaccines against covid-19 to enter the country between January and February.
According to Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, Costa Rica is a reference in the world for its complete vaccination plan and its culture of understanding the benefits of being vaccinated.
"It is important to make clear that vaccines don't cause sterility, neither autism, don't modify our DNA and don't contain coronavirus or neither microchips," Minister Salas said, in an attempt to clear up rumors about the vaccine against covid-19. "Vaccines allow that our body can neutralize the virus."
The National Emergency Commission announced in November, that it has already begun to buy the necessary supplies for an expected vaccination campaign against covid-19.
Among the most important items are 14 ultra-low temperature freezers to store the vaccines scheduled to arrive before March 2021. Of those, 13 freezers can hold 550 liters alongside another with a capacity of 750 liters to store the vaccine for a longer time. The purchases are financed with emergency funds, following the Presidential Decree of National Health Emergency due to the pandemic.
While the campaign has not started, covid-19 infections increase and deaths from the virus continue. On Tuesday, the ministry reported the most up-to-date statistics on the evolution of the virus in the country.
The Ministry of Health provided the most up-to-date statistics on Monday, as follows:
• 927 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 31,109 active cases.
• 20,907 foreign-born people have been infected, totaling 154,093 cases since March, approximately 13.5% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients. But since October, there is no updated information about foreign-born deaths due to covid-19.
• 610 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 243 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions (ages range from 1 to 92-years-old). And 367 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.
• 121,031 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 78.5% recovery rate of the total cases since March.
• 440,279 covid-19 tests have been performed in Costa Rica since March, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University.
• 1,956 deaths of people infected with covid-19, approximately 1.3% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these 734 women and 1,222 men. The ages range from a 9-year-old to a 101-year-old person.
Readers can see the updated number of total
patients in each district at the National
Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.
According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, CSSE, at Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed 1,644,889 people worldwide.
--------------- How should the authorities include the entire Costa Rican population in the massive vaccination campaign against covid-19? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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