Almost a half-million vaccines against covid-19 imported

In Oct. 2020, the government signed an agreement for the purchase of three million doses.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs photo -

Almost a half-million vaccines against covid-19 imported

Published Tuesday, March 9 2021

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Since the purchase from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer / BioNTech in December, there will be 472,875 doses of vaccines against covid-19.

The ninth shipment will arrive tonight at the Juan Santamaría International Airport in a DHL flight with 86,580 doses of the treatment, confirmed Alexander Solís, President of the National Emergency Commission.

Also, through the agreement with COVAX, in May an expected 218,400 doses will arrive in the country. This will be the first shipment of this vaccine purchased from the AstraZeneca pharmacy, according to Solís.

Through the COVAX system of the World Health Organization, enough vaccines were purchased to protect more than one million inhabitants, he added.

Last year, 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.

In the case of Pfizer vaccines, in Oct. 2020, the government signed an agreement for the purchase of three million doses.

Vaccine purchases are made with funds from the National Emergency Fund that is being used to face the crisis caused by the pandemic. These doses bought through the National Emergency Commission will protect three million people against covid-19, at two doses per person.

So far, 149,812 vaccine doses have been applied. Reaching a national vaccination rate of 2.9 per 100 inhabitants, according to Social Security report.

The country remains inoculating the Group-A of High Risk, which includes elderly folks living in nursing homes, nursing home employees, healthcare workers, members of the police force, firefighters and National Commission Emergency workers, among others.

And also the Group-B of High Risk, which includes people over the age of 58, regardless of whether or not they have any pre-existing health risk factors.

To receive the treatment, participants must have a Costa Rican ID or a residency ID, known as DIMEX specific for immigrants with resident status.

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