RICO’s Covid-19 Digest – When can it be said that a person has a complete scheme against covid-19? The answer is “it depends”. It depends on age and other factors that countries use to determine the number of doses its population requires.
In Costa Rica, the Comisión Nacional de Vacunación y Epidemiología (CNVE) – National Commission for Vaccination and Epidemiology, the body responsible for making decisions on immunizations in the country, updated the guidelines.
Among those aged 5 to 11 years, booster doses are not recommended to increase protection against the disease. For this population segment, the complete scheme is maintained in two doses.
For those over 12 years of age, this initial scheme of two doses is no longer considered complete. The CNVE indicated that this group now requires three doses: two initial ones (applied three weeks apart if Pfizer or four if Moderna) and a booster four months later.
As of March 24, the Ministry of Health will eliminate the requirement to those over 12 years of age who were in contact with a positive person at least 14 days of having received the booster dose to isolate
Otherwise, isolation is required for seven days.
Those who have not completed the four months since the second dose do not need to isolate but they should get the third injection in case they come into contact with a positive in the future.
Costa Rica is not the first country to require three doses for complete regimens. Our southern neighbor Panama has had the three dose requirement since January 5.
According to data from the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) updated to Monday, March 14, there are 2,257,157 people over 12 years of age who have already had the second time. They are either waiting four months to receive the booster or they could already receive it and for some reason, they have not.
In total, the Caja reports applying 9,790,312 vaccines:
- 4,273,569 first doses (82.8% of the total population)
- 3,892,636 second doses (75.4% of the total population)
- 1.624.107 third doses (31.5% of the total population)
Some 240,422 individuals over the age of 12, according to the CCSS’s records, do not have a single vaccine against covid-19.
Health authorities remind that the country has enough vaccines for those who need to start, continue or complete their schedule. The CCSS has vaccination clinics throughout the country. You can see places, hours and days of care for all ages on the site https://www.ccss.sa.cr/web/coronavirus/vacunacion.
In addition, 37 health areas offer appointments through the site https://vacunacovid.ccss.sa.cr/.
Need help finding your vaccination center? If driving, the Waze app can by searching “Centro de vacunación”.
