“In 2021, 100 million vaccines were applied in Colombia”: Ministry of Health

This Wednesday, March 23, the Colombian Ministry of Health reported that during 2021 100 million vaccines were applied in the national territory, a figure that was reached between the application of doses of the regular program and the National Vaccination Plan against covid- 19.

This was confirmed by the head of the portfolio, Fernando Ruiz, during the first national meeting of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and vaccination against covid-19, who stressed that the achievements in social and economic recovery have been possible thanks to the teams that are part of this program.

“What has been done has been satisfactory. The application of 100 million women vaccinated last year is something that, in the history of public health in this country, of the vaccination program, had not been seen. Perhaps because we had never had the urgency, but also because our regular program had always worked properly, and we were faced with the challenge of responding to the country”, highlighted Minister Ruiz.

In this sense, he stressed that apart from the economic reactivation in the country, it was possible to avoid a situation of lack of services as serious as that experienced in other nations, with citizens dying on the street and without access to the Units of Intensive Care (ICU), however, during the second and third peaks of the pandemic, there was evidence of saturation of health services in much of the national territory.

Likewise, he stressed that vaccination “gives hope” pointing out that through the doses that have been applied for covid-19 and other pathologies, “certainty and safety” is delivered, not without first mentioning that the greatest challenge at this time is to complete the vaccination schedules for the entire population in the country in order to reduce the risks of complications from the virus, especially in the most vulnerable groups.

“Recognizing that this moment is critical, and considering that the population that needs to be vaccinated has decreased, It is the moment in which we have to make our greatest effort to go looking for them, programs to close the application of second doses, that children be vaccinated and complete their schemes”, said the head of the portfolio.

In turn, he explained that it was normal that with a “stressed” system due to the application of doses of the vaccine against covid-19, the EPI has lagged behind, for which he invited to join efforts to complete the vaccination of the other pathologies, and in this way obtain the measles and rubella certification.

On the other hand, through the National Vaccination Program, the application of 79,783,514 doses of the vaccine against covid-19 has been achieved, of which 28,149,364 belong to citizens who have applied the second dose of the biological, while that 6,296,103 people have been immunized with a single dose. Likewise, 9,892,211 booster doses have been applied.

“Under these technical decisions and vision in which we work together, let us remember that in this Ministry we are all always here to work together. We are a single team, we have a single responsibility, which is our population, and with that vision, effort and sacrifice, we have to move forward and close this task”, Minister Ruiz concluded.

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