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December 23, 2020 – 01:11 pm
Newsroom of El País
Cali will have one of the eight deep-freezing warehouses that will be in Colombia and that are required to store the vaccine against covid-19, developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer / BioNTech.
This was reported by the Vice Minister of Health, Luis Alexander Moscoso. According to the official, the doses of the biological acquired through the Covax mechanism will not be distributed by the laboratories, so each country must guarantee the corresponding logistics.
He explained that there are 44 freezers that will be installed in warehouses located in Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Pereira, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cali.
“We have a central warehouse at the El Dorado airport. From there it is distributed to the other deep-freezing warehouses: the one in the free zone in Bogotá, and those of the Health Secretariats of the country’s capital, Medellín. that of Cali, that of Barranquilla, that of Bucaramanga, that of Cartagena and that of Pereira, “he explained.
Also read: Cali prepares mock vaccination against covid-19
Once the vaccines are in the regional warehouse, the Health agencies will be in charge of distribution in the local warehouses, or to the vaccination points, according to the determined scheme.
Moscoso pointed out that “from the moment this material reaches the vaccination points, there are five days, with refrigeration from 2º to 8º centigrade.” That is why he insisted on the importance of logistics for “assigning personalized appointments to a prioritized population with time and place.”
The National Government has installed 2,900 vaccination points, and 7,920 vaccinators have been arranged, which translates into the capacity to immunize 177,200 people every day.
In the country, 34 million Colombians were prioritized, among health professionals and patients at risk.
The wineries
The official explained that the central warehouse at the El Dorado airport has about 2,000 m². It consists of a dry area for storing syringes, diluents and medicines, a freezer space with refrigerators from 2 to 8 ° C, and a 20 ° C deep freezer, used for the polio vaccine.
“This central warehouse allows the storage of 50 million doses, with all the security mechanisms. From there it goes in properly refrigerated transport to the departments and districts.” He added that Colombia already has 37 storage warehouses certified by PAHO and Invima.
Moscoso appealed to the public and recalled that this process “cannot be mandatory, but it is a necessary act to protect health. The vaccine immunizes and also helps the population reach what experts call herd immunity. we are vaccinated, we are going to acquire that herd immunity. “
Also read: Cali prepares mock vaccination against covid-19
Colombia expects the first batch of 1.7 million vaccines against covid-19 to be ready for distribution in February 2021.
The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, specified that “in January we will be working on the enlistment, the entire plan that must be done with the territorial entities to locate the sites and prepare the points where the vaccination will be done.”
The country has already bought 40 million doses: 10 million doses from Pfizer, 10 million from AstraZeneca and 20 million through the Covax mechanism. It is expected to immunize 20 million Colombians, taking into account that these vaccines require two doses per person.
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