QCOSTARICA – The 47% of the vaccinable population – people 12 years of age or older – who do not have any dose of protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19, is concentrated in only 13 of the 105 health areas of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Socia (CCSS).
It is about 174,000 people who live mainly in populated areas of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) or the Pacific coast. The most lagging community is Barranca, in Puntarenas, where 35.6% of its inhabitants are unvaccinated.
Second is the health area known as Goicoechea 1, which serves the residents of Los Cuadros, Ipís, Purral, Mata de Plátano, Bella Vista, Américas and Jaboncillal, with some of the highest rates of violence. There, the percentage of those not immunized amounts to 32.6%.
In Puntarenas, in addition to Barranca, is Chacarita. In these two areas, a wave of murders linked to drug trafficking has been registered in recent years. Esparza and Quepos, also in Puntarenas, are part of the group of 13.
There are also five populous health areas, with more than 50,000 inhabitants: Desamparados 2 –which includes El Llano, Higuito, Jericó, San Miguel, San Rafael Arriba and San Rafael Abajo, Aserrí, Tibás (sector served by Coopesain) and Alajuelita, in San José. Also Liberia, in Guanacaste.
From Heredia, only Horquetas-Río Frío, in Sarapiquí, is on the list. While the remaining two are from San José: San Francisco-San Antonio (Coopesana) and San Sebastián-Paso Ancho (Asemeco).
These 13 health areas, which represent 12.4% of the 105, bring together, together, the 174,000 of the 369,658 unvaccinated people in the country, according to an analysis with data from the CCSS.
Nine of these health areas are managed by clinics or Ebáis of the CCSS and only four by private health cooperatives.
On average, at the national level, only 8.6% of the vaccinable population does not have any vaccine against covid-19. In these other areas, the percentages are close to three and even four times the national average.
The remaining 91.4% of inhabitants and residents are divided as follows: 14.7% have one dose, 75.8% two doses, and 0.9% three doses.