   All the people who have already received the first dose will receive the second dose as planned. - A.M. Costa Rica illustrative photo - |
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 Published Friday, January 22, 2021 Pfizer halts
delivery of covid-19
vaccines to Costa Rica By the A.M. Costa Rica staff On Thursday, Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, announced at a press conference that Pfizer would delay the delivery of vaccines against covid-19 to Costa Rica. "Pfizer informed that due to the adjustments they are making to increase the number of vaccines, there will be a gap in the shipment of vaccines," Minister Salas said. According to Salas, this delay will not affect the scheduling of the vaccine campaign this month. "Vaccination in Costa Rica will continue as the plan that has been arranged," he said. All the people who have already received the first dose will receive the second dose as planned. The country has enough vaccines in stock for them. "We are even going to continue applying the first doses at a slightly slower rate," Salas added.  As of Jan. 18, there have been 29,389 people vaccinated in the country. All those inoculated are from the first group of pre-selected individuals, which include health workers, elderly people living in nursing homes, nursing home staff, firefighters, policemen, and workers of the National Emergency Commission, among others. Pfizer is expected to resume the vaccine delivery in the second week of February. And in March the order purchased by Costa Rica could be completed. According to Román Macaya, president of Social Security, the country will stop receiving approximately 60,000 vaccines per week, due to the worldwide delay in vaccine exports. "We are in global circumstances, what the company reported is that they are in a process of expanding production capacity to make an increase of more than 50% of what had been projected," Macaya said. Last Tuesday, a DHL flight from Miami to Costa Rica landed with a cargo of 16,575 vaccine doses against covid-19 purchased from Pfizer. This is the fifth vaccine shipment that has landed in the country. The first batch of 9,750 doses arrived on Dec. 23. The second cargo with 11,700 arrived on Dec. 30. The third set with 33,150 doses arrived on Jan. 5 and the fourth shipment with 33,150 doses arrived on Tuesday, Jan. 12. So far, 104,325 doses have been imported of the 3 million doses purchased for $36 million. While health authorities plan for the vaccine shipment delay, covid-19 continues to rapidly infect people in the country, according to the most updated report on Thursday: • 765 new covid-19 cases are reported, bringing the total to 40,247 current active cases. • 23,486 foreign-born people have been infected, totaling 188,477 cases since March, approximately 12.4% 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. • 519 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 215 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions. Their ages range from 1 to 93-years-old. And 304 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes. • 145,725 patients have fully recovered, a 77.3% recovery rate of the total cases since March. • 561,356 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. • 2,506 deaths are listed as covid-19 related, approximately 1.3% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these 947 are women and 1,559 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 at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.  According to Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed more than 2 million people worldwide. -------------------------- What have you heard about delivery delays of the vaccine against covid-19 in your country? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com         
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