500,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine have arrived in the country to be used for second doses

This Sunday, April 11, 500,000 additional doses of vaccines against covid-19 from the Sinovac laboratory arrived in the country. According to the Deputy Minister of Public Health and Services, Luis Alexander Moscoso, These doses will be intended to cover the second doses of the adult population aged 70 and over, as part of the second stage of the national vaccination plan.

In the same way, underlined the vice-minister, with this half a million doses, it will be possible to “cover certain vaccines which were not applied the preceding days.

The official also explained that with these vaccines, a vaccination process can be completed in a significant number of the population.

These 500,000 doses of vaccines will allow us to complete the vaccination schedule for a very large group of the population.

Moscoso stressed that progress was thus being made in consolidating the national vaccination plan against covid-19, with the aim of achieving, by the end of the year, the vaccination of 70% of the Colombian population, as expected.

Finally, he stressed the need to maintain self-care measures, such as proper mask use, avoiding crowds, respecting physical distancing, and staying in ventilated areas.

It must be remembered that a few days ago, The Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that during the immunization process and the opening of face-to-face planning in certain segments of the population, so-called “spontaneous demand” has been generated.

“Such spontaneous demand has led to the use, in some cases, of vaccines available for second doses, as a first dose,” the entity said. In other words, all vaccines in the Sinovac pharmaceuticals have already been applied and the reserves of the second dose were not retained.

Depending on the entity, This situation may cause the interval between doses for the second application to be lengthened, so it is necessary to postpone the regimen for a few days. However, this does not compromise the effectiveness of the vaccine.

“The expert committee had already recommended up to a maximum of 56 days between the first and second dose, and there are ongoing studies documented in the scientific literature which indicate that some vaccines can be applied later with better results, so that it can be assured that the second dose at these times is safe and effective ” , said the Health portfolio.

On April 8, via social networks, various users reported that older adults who were about to receive the dose of the covid-19 vaccine will not be able to do so due to lack of supplies.

According to RCN Radio, some people received a message saying: “We take the liberty of informing you that the appointment scheduled for the second dose of vaccination against covid has been postponed” then they get a new date to attend the Movistar Arena.

Likewise, other elderly people received the same information but instead of reprogramming it, they are canceled.

According to the users report on Twitter, this message is accompanied by a text indicating that “The national government informs that the Sinovac laboratory has not delivered the planned vaccines and therefore the scheduled users will not be able to receive this dose. It will not affect your immunization schedule ”.

The national station announced the case of an 88-year-old woman who was due to receive the vaccine on Thursday. His son Enrique Sánchez assured the media that, “we were after a lot of work inside the ambulance and a call came to us from Colsanitas saying that the second vaccine had been canceled, that there was no of available doses and that the national government had not been able to send the vaccines they needed ”.

In response, EPS Sanitas issued a statement acknowledging that it again had to schedule appointments for vaccination due to “Reasons beyond their control.” They indicated that they would resume the immunization schedule when “Deliver the scheduled doses.”

“For reasons beyond our control and our will, some of the appointments scheduled at our vaccination points are rescheduled. Once the planned doses have been delivered, we will continue to progress in the vaccination of our members “, the statement reads.

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