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In an interview with Caracol Radio, the head of the Health portfolio announced that there is already a confidentiality agreement between the Government of Colombia and the pharmaceutical company on “a proposal to purchase vaccines.”
The procedure for the vaccine to reach Colombia, explains the official, is done through the Kovács mechanism, an international organization that serves as a mediator so that the drug reaches 180 countries, including Colombia, and that delivery would be made in the first half of 2021 “for bilateral purchases”, but did not specify an exact date.
As for the Pfizer vaccine, which according to the manufacturer this Monday, November 9, is 90% effective according to the results of phase 3 of the vaccine (clinical tests), Minister Ruiz Gómez said that different authorized companies will be producing these highly effective vaccines, which the official considered something “very positive” for the country.
This trill from Caracol Radio records the announcement of Minister Fernando Ruiz:
#In the air # 6 AM | “We are conducting negotiations to start vaccinating the first half of 2021”
Fernando Ruiz, @MinSaludCol https://t.co/cNdaOnOhDT pic.twitter.com/vQW3I7Yhqs
– Caracol Radio (@CaracolRadio) November 10, 2020
Those over 60 would be the first to receive a vaccine
Minister Ruiz said that if everything goes as planned, the first Colombians to receive it would be those over 60 years of age and people with diseases that increase their risk of dying if they become infected, as well as health personnel, the radio frequency reported.
“This group is made up of more or less 15 million people,” said the head of the Health portfolio, and through Kovács, 10 million vaccines have already been acquired, plus 5 million more doses through bilateral purchases (Colombia also sells inputs to Pfizer), which would cover the entire population.
The vaccine will be free for Colombians, the minister announced, and the cost will be fully assumed by the national government, it will be distributed through the government health network and ultimately it will be applied to people through the EPS.
Minister Ruiz clarifies that although two doses of the vaccine are required, inoculated in a period of two weeks to be effective, the Government acquired vaccines per person, not per dose, so the 15 million people in the first vaccination phase they have their doses assured.
It should be borne in mind, warns the Minister of Health, that Pfizer’s announcement was about preliminary results of phase 3 of clinical trials and is not the final result of said phase, but that the announcements “They are perfectly valid in an emergency situation like the one we have in the world at this time ”, which are enough to advance its approval.
Ruiz Gómez explains that the effectiveness component has already been verified, but the safety component is needed, that is, it does not have “important adverse effects” and that is evaluated by a committee of experts, and then it goes to tests at the US FDA. . or in the European agency, which are the ones that give the definitive endorsement of the vaccines.
Once the vaccine arrives in Colombia, a sanitary registry must be issued so that it can finally be distributed to the public.
More coronavirus vaccines are coming
A prominent scientific adviser to the British government said Tuesday that he hopes several vaccines against the coronavirus will be approved in early 2021 and life can begin to return to normal for the Easter holidays.
The significance of Monday’s announcement by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that its vaccine is effective should not be “underestimated,” John Bell, a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told a parliamentary committee. (SAGE).
“There are many pathogens for which we have been looking for an effective vaccine for decades and we have not found it,” he said, assuring that although “everyone assumed that someone would produce a vaccine” for the coronavirus that “was not true” so this it is “a huge advance”.
And it suggests that other potential vaccines based on similar principles may be just as effective, he added.
“I would not be surprised if we entered the new year with two or three vaccines that could be distributed,” he said.
According to Bell, there is a 70% to 80% chance “that enough vaccines will be achieved in the first quarter of next year so that in the spring (boreal) things start to look much more normal.”
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