QCOSTARICA – The landing of two separate and independent shipments of covid-19 vaccines this week, one from Pfizer and the other from Astra Zeneca, that allows Costa Rica to advance the vaccination program.
On Tuesday, the country received 124,020 doses from Pfizer/Biontech, the 19th shipment since the first on December 23, 2020.
On Thursday, the country received 88,800 doses from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
This is the second batch of the Astra Zeneca acquired through the Covax mechanism, a platform of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI).
Covax aims to provide treatment to 20% of the people who need it most in each country regardless of their economic condition.
The shipment arrived at Juan SantamarÃa International Airport on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, which landed at 5:30 pm Thursday. Originally, the delivery was scheduled for Tuesday.
The first Covax shipment to the country was registered on April 7 with 43,200 doses also of AstraZeneca, most of which have been used for the so-called Group 1, made up of officials on the front line of pandemic care.
Read more: Costa Rica’s Minister of Health first to be vaccinated with Astra Zeneca vaccine
Doses to date
In the first half of May, the country has received 336,840 doses, to reach a total of 1,594,695, confirmed Casa Presidencial in a statement.
The arrival of this new batch of vaccines coincided with the highest number of deaths associated with covid-19 in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
Thursday, May 13, broke the record for deaths associated with covid-19 in a single day, with 32 deaths. On Friday, May 14, that record was broken with the Ministry of Health reporting 33 deaths.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, the country has 3,547 deaths from a single disease since the first in March 2020.
“We work to continue accelerating the vaccination campaign that is deployed throughout the national territory. This is a country effort, expressed in different strategic alliances for the opening of more vaccination posts in different regions,” posted Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado on Thursday on his Facebook page.
