QCOSTARICA – More than 247,000 people in Costa Rica have received their two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, surpassing the country’s 233,000 COVID-19 cases reported during the pandemic.
The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), also known as the “Caja”, reports 697,237 doses applied, of which 450,593 people received the first dose and 247,734 people the second, as of Tuesday, April 20, 2021.
Cumulative doses of COVID-19 vaccine according to health region, in the Central Norte (171,062), Central Sur (299,030), Huetar Norte (36,045 ), Pacifico Central (51,207), Huetar Atlántica (37,677), Brunca (41,640), and Chorotega (61,666).
Nearly 13.5% in Costa Rica have received one or more doses.
In the prioritized group made up of people aged 58 years and over (group 2) in total, 520,022 doses of the vaccine have already been applied, of these, 354,335 are first doses and 165,687 to people who have already been immunized with the two doses.
More: See here Vaccination statistics
The CCSS data show that in the group of people aged 80 years and over, the rates of vaccine application reach significant values, since in the case of people aged 100 years and over it is 95.1, in the group aged 90 to 99 years a rate of 89.1 and in the group of 80 to 89 years a rate of 88.4 per 100 inhabitants.
On the other hand, in prioritized group 1 (workers from first response institutions, long-stay senior homes and health professionals from the private sector) the application of 178,305 doses of vaccine is registered, of which 96,258 correspond to first doses (for a vaccination rate of 87.5 per 100 officials) and 82,047 at second doses.
The Caja reports that for this week, the institution distributed 124,076 doses of vaccine against covid-19 in the network of Ebais (clinics). With these, the protection of priority groups 1 and 2 will continue.
We need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.
In the word of Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “Viruses cannot mutate if they don’t replicate. And if you stop their replication by vaccinating widely and not giving the virus an open playing field to continue to respond to the pressures that you put on it, you will not get mutations.”
Third wave?
After weeks of a diminishing number of new daily cases, the country has seen a spike in cases in the past 10 days, a third wave, if you will, that has seen the number of cases daily doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled (as in the case of 1,531 new cases reported for Wednesday, April 21) of the 400 daily cases up to the first week of April.
The concern today is the number of hospitalizations, in particular, the record of 284 people ( of 615) requiring intensive care and the hospitalizations of the under 50s.
Coronavirus
Coronaviruses cause respiratory infections in humans that can range from the common cold to serious illnesses like pneumonia.
The most recently discovered new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 causes the COVID-19.