Colombia will acquire 40 million vaccines against COVID-19 with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the COVAX mechanism

After a negotiation that began in June between the Colombian State and pharmaceutical companies, the president Iván Duque announced that an agreement was reached with which they are going to buy from the Pfizer company 10 million doses of the vaccine against the new coronavirus sars-cov-2, another 10 million doses from the AstraZeneca company, and an additional 20 million to be purchased through the Covax mechanism.

“I am pleased to tell Colombians today that we have closed negotiations with two pharmaceutical companies that have important developments”, Duque announced, in his program ‘Prevention and Action’, which he presents daily on Colombian television.

According to the newspaper El Tiempo, it is expected that By February 2021, at least half of the doses negotiated with Pfizer and Astrazeneca are available. End of March is scheduled to receive the first lot to be acquired through the COVAX mechanism, and to April would be receiving the remainder of the agreement with AstraZeneca.

Regarding the COVAX mechanism, the acquisition of vaccines would be assured after Gina Tambini, representative for Colombia of the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, reiterated that they have all the capacity to acquire the 2,000 million doses for the 190 countries that are part of this mechanism.

“The agreements with the producing laboratories are already signed and it is expected that in the first quarter of next year the vaccines will begin to be distributed in the countries,” he said.

Inoculations in the first quarter of 2021 will be prioritized for 100 percent of healthcare workers, adults over 60 and with comorbidities.

Duque insisted that there are 40 million doses for a wide vaccination coverage in Colombia. “Our goal is that in the first weeks of the year 2021 we are advancing the massive vaccination process,” said the president.

This vaccination plan would be fully structured for January of next year and thus mass vaccination would begin in February.

“We issued Law 2064 with the support of Congress, which allowed the framework to be able to generate all actions to have access to the vaccine and declare it of general interest,” explained the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz.

The official added that The strategy is based on the acquisition of a diversified portfolio so that Colombians have various types of vaccine available and in which, in addition, State resources are not put at risk. “We all want effective and safe vaccines that reach the entire population,” Ruiz said.

In this way It seeks to immunize 70 percent of the Colombian population, which is equivalent to 35 million, against sars-cov-2. However, Colombians who were infected with the new coronavirus will be excluded from this figure, that is, they hope to inoculate a total of 34’234.649 inhabitants.

Regarding the logistics for the arrival of the vaccine, according to the newspaper El Tiempo, the country would be well prepared to receive, preserve and distribute the doses, since There are specialized warehouses for this purpose, which are located in the free zone near the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, which have the capacity to store up to 50 million vaccines.

From this point in the Colombian capital they would be distributed throughout the country, which It has 37 more wineries throughout the national territory, certified by the Pan American Health Organization and the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima) of Colombia. From there the doses will go to 2,900 vaccination points that will be available throughout the country.

If doses require deep freezing, according to the newspaper El Tiempo, freezers will be available in the Bogota, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena and Pereira warehouses.

Duque reveals schedule and vaccines against COVID-19 that Colombia will have

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