Elizabeth is in a wheelchair, takes a deep breath and closes her eyes as she gets the left shoulder puncture. At 91, he is the first person in Costa Rica to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
In the nursing home where she lives, a nurse patiently inoculates her with the antibodies with the syringe. Elizabeth Castillo feels that the trance is over and opens her eyes. He is wearing an N95 mask, but his gestures show that he is smiling. Raise your hands. The medical staff applauds.
“I am very grateful to God because I asked him a lot. My life is very important to me, take advantage of every moment,” she says in a slow and thick voice.
Manufactured by US-German duo Pfizer / BioNTech, the dose he received is one of 9,750 that arrived in Costa Rica on Wednesday evening, making it one of the first countries in Latin America to have this remedy just in the day of Goodnight.
Next in turn is Jorge de Ford. Sitting on a sofa, after moving a few feet, leaning on a walker, he rolled up his shirt to soak up the substance.
“Get everyone vaccinated. It didn’t hurt at all,” exclaims the 72-year-old.
“This moment is the beginning of the path for the country to end the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Costa Rican President, Carlos Alvarado, present at the vaccination conducted in a room of the Fundación Pro. Personas Adultas Olores, in San Ramón. from Tres Ríos, 12 km east of the capital San José.
-Also the doctors-
In addition to Jorge and Elizabeth, a doctor and a nurse from the Specialist Center for the Care of Patients with Covid-19, in the city center, also received their first dose.
The nurse vaccinating the internist José Acuña warns him that he may have symptoms similar to those of the flu, but that he should not be alarmed.
“It is a great honor to be one of the first citizens to receive this vaccine. It is a tremendous effort to be one of the first countries to have the vaccine and it will allow us to act with greater peace of mind face what is to come, “says Acuña.
He says his daughters have lived in fear for their integrity for the past eight months, but when they learned that their father would be one of the first to be vaccinated, they burst out with joy. “The country has been waiting for this, the world has been waiting for this,” he adds.
Like the rest of the vaccinees, they should receive the second and final dose necessary to obtain immunity within 21 days. During the day, 11 health workers and a dozen elderly people were vaccinated.
This first batch is exclusive to health officials working on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic and the elderly.
The Central American country, with a population of five million, has entered into an agreement to gradually receive 3 million vaccines from Pfizer that will cover 1.5 million people.
In addition, it already has agreements with AstraZeneca to vaccinate 500,000 people, and with the Covax Mechanism, sponsored by WHO, to serve 1 million citizens.
It is expected that three million inhabitants will be protected against the disease by the end of next year.
Costa Rica expects to cover 80% of the population over the age of 18. New doses come in every week and vaccinations take place according to the group plan developed by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund.
On Wednesday, Costa Rica collected 161,942 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 2,065 deaths. It keeps 634 people in the hospital and 239 of them in intensive care.
In recent days, the country has seen a resurgence in infection rates and has full room for critical patients.