Starting tomorrow, Monday, nearly everyone will have access to vaccination in Puerto Rico as part of the new health strategy that aims to protect the island’s youngest population.
To this end, the Department of Health (DS) has enabled the website www.protegetevacunate.com where citizens aged 16 and over can receive a vaccination appointment, subject to the availability of weekly vaccines that Puerto Rico receives, in order to ensure community immunity. to improve.
“The vaccination process has been a priority and we have focused on speeding up vaccination on the island. In four months, we will integrate the entire population.” It is an achievement we are celebrating and we are confident that we will make progress every day to achieve the desired immunity, ”said Health Minister Carlos Mellado López in a written statement, after emphasizing that the process remains orderly and will move forward according to the volume of doses received until reaching the population yet to be vaccinated, which is estimated to be 2.7 million people.
The process to get an appointment is simple: once on the page that turned on the DS, they have to choose the population they belong to, enter the license number, date of birth, name, email address and phone number to get it. record.
The page offers the option to select the date on which you would like to receive the vaccine and offers you the availability, taking into account the provider and the corresponding vaccine according to age. The system will send you a confirmation number along with the appointment information via email and SMS.
People who are struggling get help from the platform via the “Help” button. Likewise, people who don’t have a license number or email address, which is vital to the registration process, should ask for help on the same button.
According to Mellado López, the vaccination coverage was very good. “More than 1.5 million doses have been administered through licensed healthcare providers. At the moment we have reached 42 percent of the population with at least one dose and we have vaccinated 17 percent of the population with the two doses ”.
This week, Puerto Rico expects 49,800 doses from Pfizer, 34,200 from Moderna and 6,100 from Janssen, for a total of 136,500. This shipment of vaccines will be received and distributed to healthcare providers Tuesday through Thursday (this week). However, the vaccines that arrived between Thursday and Friday last week are distributed as follows: 6,950 doses of Moderna from 20 suppliers, 17,316 doses of Pfizer from 56 suppliers, and an additional 8,100 doses received directly from 17 suppliers.
In addition, there are the vaccines that arrive directly at pharmacies, as part of the federal Retail Pharmacy program. Walgreens pharmacies receive more than 60,000 doses, CVS Pharmacy 10,000 doses, Costco 2,000 doses, and Cardinal Pharmacy 10,000 doses. Likewise, the pharmacies at Walmart, Amigo, and Sams have assigned 10,000 doses, between the first and the second. Citizens can also get a vaccination appointment via the cyber portal of each chain. In the case of Walmart, coordination is done through a phone call.
Young people ages 16 and 17 can only get the Pfizer vaccine, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Minors under the age of 21 must be accompanied by their father, mother or authorized guardian. The web portals take into account the age and the vaccine to coordinate the appointment.
The Head of Health called on citizens to continue health and safety protocols against the virus. “We have to be disciplined. The use of the mask is not optional, it is mandatory. As well as keeping your distance, avoiding crowds and maintaining good hygiene. Sure, the vaccine is a protection, but we have to keep taking care of ourselves to stop the contamination in the community. It’s up to everyone to protect ourselves, ”said Mellado López.
On the other hand, the Minister of Health clarified that pharmacies and vaccination centers, while operating, are excluded from compliance with the curfew provided for in Administrative Decree 2021-491 signed on April 9.