[ad_1]
COlombia added a total of 40 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, 10 million with Pfizer, another 10 million doses with Astrazeneca, plus the 20 million doses already confirmed with the Covax mechanism, indicating that the country has biologicals to vaccinate a total of 20 million Colombians.
The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, explained that by 2021 Colombia will have 51,049,498 people; and to achieve herd immunity and control the advance of the virus, it is necessary to vaccinate at least 70% of the population, that is, the equivalent of 35,049,498 Colombians.
From this population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, the 1.5 million people who already suffered from the COVID-19 disease will be subtracted, so that there will be 34,234,649 Colombians eligible to vaccinate against the new coronavirus.
So, the country already has supplies to vaccinate 20 million Colombians of those 34 million, that is, it has 58.4% of the vaccines it needs to meet its vaccination goal and thus achieve herd immunity.
The vaccination of those 20 million people will begin in February. January will be used to refine details and complete the detail of readiness for the application of the vaccine for COVID-19.
Who will be the first to get vaccinated?
Based on the objectives of the Ministry: to reduce mortality from COVID-19, reduce the incidence of serious cases and protect health personnel, the first populations to receive the vaccine will be those over 60 years of age, people with comorbidities and staff of Health.
People with comorbidities are equivalent to 11,035,970 people with hypertensive diseases, diabetes, kidney failure, COPD, asthma, HIV, cancer, tuberculosis, hepatitis C and obesity.
The health personnel to be vaccinated will be 1,217,971 workers and people over 60 will be 7’644,171. (See box).
In the last stage of vaccination, with which the population necessary to achieve herd immunity will be completed, the population aged 16 and 59 years without comorbidities will be vaccinated.
It will start with the population aged 50 to 59 years, then the population aged 40 to 49, 30 to 39 years, 20 to 29 years, and finally, the population of 16 to 19 years. This population is equivalent to 17,490,151 people.
The minister specified that at first the vaccination will not include children under 16 years of age, because clinical trials in the world have not included the child population or pregnant women, so they lack scientific evidence on the effects of the vaccine in these groups.
The population to be vaccinated is already identified with its own name through the data in the health system databases, but mechanisms will also be available so that the prioritized risk population can be registered in the event that it has not been included.
8
Warehouses in the country have the capacities to receive doses of the deep-frozen vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. One of those is in Bucaramanga.
What will the process be like?
According to what was explained by MinSalud, each citizen will be assigned an appointment with a date and time for their vaccination and will have to go to the vaccination IPS selected for this purpose. There you will receive the explanation of the vaccination process, you will have to sign the informed consent and you will receive your vaccination.
Each vaccinated person will be registered in the system at the time they receive the biological and will receive a vaccination card with the date of their next appointment, taking into account that most of the vaccines developed against this disease consist of two doses.
Colombia has a total of 7,920 vaccinators throughout the territory and has a vaccination capacity to apply 277,200 biologicals per day.
All the resources for the vaccination plan are already guaranteed and the government will continue with negotiations to complete the total number of vaccines it needs to fulfill its immunization strategy.
How will the vaccine move around the country?
Minister Ruiz explained that the distribution chain is already prepared. For the Astrazeneca vaccine, identical logistics will be used to that used for any vaccine in the country, since it requires a cold chain of between two and eight degrees, for which the country is fully prepared.
The vaccine will arrive from the producing laboratory to the airport, from there it will go to the central warehouse of the Ministry, where the biologicals are housed in the country. Subsequently, it will be distributed to regional warehouses, then to health centers and vaccinators, to finally reach its target population.
And as for the Pfizer vaccine, which requires deep freezing at -70 °, the pharmaceutical company is committed to delivering the vaccine to the point of application, transported in special boxes with dry ice. Colombia will receive 44 freezers in January to store these vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine has five days to be applied from its arrival in each territory, so it will be key that Colombians fully comply with the stipulated dates so as not to lose the product or affect the national vaccination strategy.
Invima will work these last weeks of December on the procedures to approve the emergency use of biologicals in the country.
How was the vaccine negotiated?
June: they start conversations with different pharmaceutical houses and Covax. First high-level meeting between Government and Pfizer.
July: They create an advisory committee for the immunization process of Colombians, a group that analyzes candidate vaccines, sources of funding, and prioritization and distribution criteria.
September: create coordination body to evaluate technical criteria, selection of vaccines and international successful experiences. AstraZeneca presents to Colombia the strategy of access to its vaccine.
October: Negotiations for the purchase of AstraZeneca vaccine doses formally begin.
November: presentation on cold chain management and formal start of negotiations with Pfizer.
December: the supply contract is signed with AstraZeneca on the 16th and with Pfizer on the 17th. On the 18th, the purchase of vaccines and the vaccination plan for 2021 are announced.
[ad_2]
