If he Health Department wants to start vaccinating the next phase, which would include people with chronic conditions, it should end the current population of people 65 or older, said today, Saturday, the demographer Raúl Figueroa Rodríguez
According to Figueroa Rodríguez, at the time of this publication, there are still about 400,000 people in this area without vaccination.
There are still more than 400,000 people over 65 who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and they are talking about moving to the other stage.
– Raúl Figueroa (@rafigueroa) February 27, 2021
The demographer responded in this way to yesterday’s utterances by the appointed Minister of Health, Carlos Mellado Lopez, who imagines that with the possible arrival of the Johnson & Johnsonthe next stages of vaccination can begin while Health continues with the current one.
The official also hinted that people from a younger population could be vaccinated in parallel to speed up the process.
“Now that we can move to a younger population with this vaccine from Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). We also need to return to the emergency responders and start vaccinating the drivers of the AMA buses, ”Mellado López said yesterday at a press conference at the Health Department headquarters in San Juan.
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There are still many elderly people who have a hard time getting a vaccination appointmentFigueroa Rodríguez said in an interview with Puerto Rico Metro
“I know there is a new vaccine coming, but why not just get into the stage we’re in and get on with it?” He continued.
One of the main differences from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the use of which was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration yesterday (FDA, for the abbreviation in English), is that it can be stored at room temperature and humans only need to administer one dose.
Today, FDA management could determine whether to approve emergency use of this vaccine, which could mean Salud will distribute it next week, as Mellado López explained yesterday.
Despite this, the demographer understands that Health needs to further explain whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would simplify vaccination logistics in Puerto Rico and what efforts it will take to complete the current phase.
“It would be good if they explained it. Maybe I don’t know if Johnson & Johnson’s are recommended for older people. The problem is that few vaccines are delivered for weeks. Until that increases, it takes longer,” he said. . “At the stage of vaccination we are in now, there are still a few weeks before this stage is over. It would be inappropriate to start another one if many are still unvaccinated.”
According to data shared by the Department of Health yesterday, approximately 486,405 doses have been administered in Puerto Rico, of which 172,492 are people who have already received both doses.