QCOSTARICA – The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) – Costa Rican Social Security Fund – commonly known as Caja, reported that the first health officials and older seniors vaccinated against covid-19 are in good health.
The institution denied rumors circulating on social networks about alleged serious affectations in patients who have already received the first injection.
According to the Caja, so far no person has experienced complications.
“Mild pain in the arm area was the most frequent effect on the part of Ceaco officials and Hogar Propam workers. There are no reports of adverse events,” the CCSS reported in a press release.
On December 24, on the opening day of vaccination against the coronavirus in Costa Rica, 55 people were inoculated. The recipients of the drug were 20 officials from the Specialized Center for the Care of Patients with covid-19 (Ceaco) and 35 seniors and workers from Hogar Propam (Foundation for seniors).
They will receive the second dose the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine 21 days after they received the first injection.
Mari Goñi, director of the long-stay home, said the vaccinated residents are in good spirits and socialize normally.
A publication circulating on social networks and WhatsApp assures that Elizabeth Castillo, 91, the first person to be vaccinated in the country and a resident of the Propam home, fainted and required hospitalization, as well as that her relatives are “frightened and unable to speak.”
Such claims, the CCSS clarified, are false.
This Monday the vaccination campaign for health personnel who directly care for patients with covid-19, as well as seniors who reside in long-stay centers, was resumed.
The rest of the population, reported the Caja, will have to wait for instructions on when and where they are to receive the injection.
Last Wednesday, December 23, Costa Rica received 9,750 doses of the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine. More than 11,000 doses are expected this week, with regular weekly shipments starting next week.
The country purchased a total of six million doses to immunize three million inhabitants over 18 years of age.
Of these, 3 million were ordered from Pfizer/Biontech, 1 million doses from AstraZeneca / University of Oxford and 2 million doses through the COVAX initiative.
The order in which people will be summoned to receive the vaccine will be as follows:
- FIRST GROUP: elderly people residing in a long-stay center, and those who work in these places. Also health, police and emergency personnel.These front-line personnel are made up of: the workers of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, the Ministry of Health, the personnel who work in private hospitals, the National Emergency Commission, Firefighters, the Red Cross and the security police forces, Transit, Migration, prisons, municipalities and the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ).
- SECOND GROUP: people aged 58 or over, regardless of whether or not they have any risk factors. Age will be verified by means of the national identity card or residence card.
- THIRD GROUP: people between 18 and 58 years old with some risk factor such as hypertensive, diabetic, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, people with chronic kidney disease, grade III and morbid obesity and cancer patients.
- FOURTH GROUP: officials of the Ministry of Public Education and private educational centers, and those who work in the comprehensive care centers (CAI) and shelters of the National Children’s Trust. Also people deprived of liberty and those who work for the 9-1-1 Emergency System.
- FIFTH GROUP: students of health sciences and related technicians in clinical fields of the CCSS; people between 40 and 57 years old without any of the risks previously described, but who carry out work activities where they have contact with other people or have an impact on the productive sector, such as agriculture, construction, customer service, restaurants, domestic workers, among others.
