Starting this afternoon, a vaccination plan for medical personnel working on the front lines in the fight against the pandemic will start, said Minister Francisco Alabí without providing further details on logistics and application for the more than 50,000 workers in the public and private sectors. .
El Salvador received the first batch of vaccines against Covid-19 from India’s pharmaceutical AstraZeneca on Wednesday. In the morning, the shipment arrived at Óscar Arnulfo Romero airport, where a government delegation was in charge of the transfer.
From early morning, several trucks, equipped with a refrigeration system to maintain the drug’s cold chain, stood near the air terminal runway to receive the shipment of 20,000 vaccines to the National Center for Biologicals. Ministry of Health.
“We have to thank the Serum Institute for providing us with this vaccine, the Government of India, the Prime Minister and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca,” said Minister Francisco Alabí. The official also reiterated that the purchase of this batch of vaccines was made “through government purchases”.
PHOTO GALLERY: Photos show the arrival of the first vaccines against COVID-19 in El Salvador
He pointed out that starting this afternoon, a vaccination plan will begin for medical personnel working on the front lines in the fight against the pandemic, which, according to official data, infected 58,023 Salvadorans across the country and left 1,767 deaths by February 17.
“This day is historic for the country,” said Alabí, without providing details on the logistics and application of vaccines for health workers, which are more than 50,000 employees in the public and private sectors.
Health Ministry authorities are expected to hold a press conference at noon to provide more details.
El Salvador joins the Latin American countries that are already vaccinating their populations against the coronavirus, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
Until 11:30 am Wednesday, February 17, authorities did not report how many vaccines were purchased. Photo EDH / Lissette Monterrosa
On Tuesday, President Bukele explained that this shipment is not the vaccines that will be received from the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX program, as “they will arrive in the first week of March.”
SEE: El Salvador is one of the first countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX mechanism, what does this mean?
Bukele announced on November 24, 2020 that the Salvadoran government and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have reached an agreement to supply 2 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19.
The government of El Salvador is betting on “herd immunity” to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ministry of Health is aiming to vaccinate 4.5 million Salvadorans.
This figure is said to represent about 72% of the Salvadoran population, according to the latest Multiple Purpose Household Surveys survey, which estimates that El Salvador is inhabited by 6.7 million people.
The government reported via a Twitter account that the vaccines had been purchased, without providing details of the costs. Photo / Capres
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Despite government records of Covid-19 cases in the country, city hall numbers indicate that at least 1,879 died from the virus, while 3,727 died suspected of covid-19 and 1,308 burials diagnosed with atypical pneumonia . in 257 municipalities of the 262 that make up the country up to the beginning of November 2020.