QCOSTARICA – It is a lie that Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado; Minister of Health, Daniel Salas; and the executive president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), Román Macaya, do not want to get the vaccine against Covid-19, as stated in a Facebook post.
The three leaders confirmed that they will receive the vaccine shot when it’s their turn.
The clarification was made through the press offices of the Presidency, the Ministery of Health and the CCSS, which reported that their leaders will be immunized according to the order of priority established for the entire country by the National Commission of Vaccination and Epidemiology (CNVE).
The institutions denied a publication of the Facebook profile Ph D Allan Arburola Valverde, which assures that Alvarado, Salas, and Macaya will not be vaccinated because they distrust immunization.
The false information says:
“Do not get the vaccine until Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Daniel Salas Peraza and Román Macaya get it first, the three of them get into a room of patients infected with covid-19, without any mask or protection, and thus we corroborate that the vaccine serves and works.
“For what reason did these individuals not get the vaccine first, being the first three Costa Ricans to set the example? And so much so that, according to them, their clothes have been torn for the health of Costa Ricans.
“The reason is very simple: they know very well that this vaccine has harmful effects on humans, or why haven’t they got it? Be more malicious. The level of idiotization in which a percentage of the population has fallen is the height, which does not demand that the vaccine be given by themselves”.
In other countries, such as the United States, the highest public officials and congressmen were among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, in Costa Rica the instruction is different.
The vaccination program is prioritized in 5 groups:
Group 1A: Staff at hospitals, health areas, clinics, Ebáis, Comprehensive Health Care Centers (CAIS) of the CCSS and private hospitals that have emergency services, intensive care units and care of COVID-19 patients; All workers of the National Emergency Commission, all Fire Department workers, all workers of the Costa Rican Red Cross and the totality of police forces
Group 1B: Central level workers of the Ministry of Health, CCSS, workers of administrative branches of the CCSS, central level workers of the Ministry of Public Security, personnel of private health services that are not contemplated in 1A and that are duly registered with the respective professional association
Group 2: People aged 58 and over, regardless of whether or not they have any risk factors. They have to present their identification, be it a national identity card (Cedula) or residence card (DIMEX). The vaccines that Costa Rica receives as of this Tuesday, February 16, will be dedicated to group 2 by 80%; the remaining 20% will be to continue with group 1.
Group 3: People between 18 and 58 years old who present some risk factor. For example: hypertensive, diabetic, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease, grade III and morbid obesity, cancer patients.
Group 4: Officials of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), private educational sector and staff of Comprehensive Care Centers (CAI), officials of the shelters of the National Children’s Trust (PANI), persons deprived of liberty.
Group 5: Students of health sciences and related technicians in clinical fields of the CCSS, Persons between 40 and 57 years old without any of the risks previously described, who carry out work activities related to contact with people or impact on the productive sector: agriculture, construction, customer service, restaurants, domestic workers, among others.
Therefore, Carlos Alvarado Quesada who is 41, Dr. Daniel Salas Peraza is who is 43, Dr. Román Macaya Hayes who is 54, do not present some risk factor, are not in the front line such as health and emergency workers are not in the priority groups and will have to wait their turn as more vaccines are received and the priorities of the vaccination program fulfilled.
To that end, at the beginning of February, Salas himself ruled out advancing the vaccination of the 57 legislators, saying they will receive the vaccine under the same conditions as the rest of the population.
