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This Monday, the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, once again taunted the National Government about the covid-19 pandemic. On this occasion, he referred to the possibility of Colombia having the vaccine and next year a vaccination process could be carried out for all Colombians. According to the president, “2021 will not be the year of mass vaccination.”
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In an interview with Semana magazine, the mayor pointed out that vaccination plans depend on national governments and not local ones. “So there we go after the Ministry of Health. As they have said, we hope that by the middle of next year we can do the vaccination (…) Let no one believe that in 2021 it is the biological vaccine against covid that will save us, ”said López.
In her statement, the president assures that 10 million doses will be acquired, but reiterates that “we are 50 million people” and next year we will continue to depend on self-care, epidemiological surveillance, biosecurity protocols and our culture citizen. 95 percent of citizens, according to López, wear masks, wash their hands and he is aware that distance must be kept.
The National Government has spoken of obtaining, through the Covax mechanism (of which 172 countries are part), 20 million doses and, for now, 10 million more are being negotiated with bilateral agreements with Pfizer. And to the extent that projects that are not in Covax are approved, negotiations will take place.
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In the large operation that will have to be set up, priority will be given to populations at higher risk, such as health personnel, people with comorbidities and those over 60 years of age, among others. But López insists that it will be an “experimental vaccination” (it is part of the final phase of the pharmaceutical research process).
As revealed by EL TIEMPO last week, the Ministry of Health has had confidential conversations with pharmaceutical companies and the Ministry of Finance has already made budget reserves through the Fome. The Ministry of Health ratified yesterday that there is no change in the vaccination strategy and that it is targeting some 15 million people in a first stageto.
This newspaper consulted some health experts, who, beyond the president’s debate, raised the need to maintain biosecurity measures, avoid crowds and family gatherings. One of them is the infectologist Carlos Álvarez, who advises the Government on the management of the pandemic.
“While the vaccines arrive, we have to remember that the antidote we have today and in the coming weeks is called self-care: frequent hand washing, use of masks, physical distancing, and I would add that for this time of year, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated places ”, He recommended.
(See: How to avoid a new spike of covid-19 infections in Bogotá)
And Luis Jorge Hernández, a health doctor, epidemiologist and professor at Uniandes, contrary to what the mayor assures, does consider that Bogotá should be “fully” involved in vaccination. “Not doing it and leaving 2021 without a vaccine is looking for a herd immunity to the wild with great mortality.”
He adds that, in addition to the vaccine, “we must also ensure the availability of syringes and other supplies, and guarantee the cold chain, since the vaccine must be at 80º or 90º below zero.”
Based on population projections from Dane and announcements from the Ministry of Health, Hernández estimates that “The vaccine will only be guaranteed for 29.8 percent of the population“Colombian, although it recognizes that the Health portfolio has indicated that” the entire population should be vaccinated regardless of whether they were infected or not.
The truth is that in the race for the vaccine there are countries that have advanced a lot. Argentina, Hernández cites, will acquire 9 million doses with the Covax alliance, with Oxford-AstraZeneca looking for another 22.4 million and if possible agreements with Pfizer are added and the Russian supplier would achieve it for 45.3 million inhabitants.
BOGOTÁ DRAFTING AND HEALTH UNIT
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