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Published Tuesday, February 17, 2021
Almost 100,000 vaccines against
covid-19 have been applied
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Since December 2020, a total of 96,948 vaccines against covid-19 have been applied, reaching a national vaccination rate of 1.88 per 100 inhabitants, according to the statistics of the Vaccine Information System.
Of those already vaccinated, 81,169 are first responders and 15,779 are workers and residents of nursing homes.
The vaccination campaign reports 42,553 already have their complete treatment upon receiving the second dose.
It is currently still inoculating the first group, which includes the elderly who live in nursing homes, nursing home employees, healthcare workers, members of the police force, firefighters and National Commission Emergency workers, among others.
As more vaccine doses arrive in the country, progress will continue in the immunization process, Social Security said. Authorities expect the next shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to arrive in the country soon, allowing people 58 years or older to get vaccinated.
This is the second group of pre-selected people to receive the vaccine, including those over the age of 58, regardless of whether or not they have any risk factors. It is estimated the treatment will be applied to 867,000 people.
To receive the treatment, participants must have a Costa Rican ID for natives or a residency ID, known as DIMEX specific for immigrants with resident status.
Social Security called on people who qualify in the second group, to visit the local public clinic, known as Ebais, to be registered. In the case of the people who are already registered in the Social Security database, known as EDUS, they will be contacted by phone to register for a vaccine date.
As of January, there have been 104,325 doses imported of the 3 million doses purchased from Pfizer for $36 million. But the Pfizer vaccine delay was, "due to the adjustments they are making to increase the number of vaccines, there will be a gap in the shipment," Salas said on Jan. 23.
While the vaccination campaign advances, authorities from the Ministry of Health reported on Monday the most updated status of the covid-19 public health crisis in the country:
• 96,948 doses of covid-19 vaccines have been applied. Reaching a national vaccination rate of 1.88 per 100 inhabitants.
• 182 new covid-19 cases are reported, bringing the total to 33,960 current active cases.
• 24,736 foreign-born people have been infected as part of the 200,024 cases since March, approximately 12.3% 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.
• 352 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 179 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions. Their ages range from 20 to 93-years-old. And 173 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.
• 163,334 patients have fully recovered, an 82% recovery rate of the total cases since March.
• 638,716 covid-19 tests have been conducted in Costa Rica since March, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.
• 2,730 deaths are listed as covid-19 related, approximately 1.4% death rate. Of these 1,025 are women and 1,705 men. The ages range from a 2-year-old to a 101-year-old.
Readers can see the current number of infected people in each district on the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed more than 2.4 million people worldwide.
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How could Social Security speed-up the covid-19 diagnostic medical test? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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