Panama City, Feb. 7. The first batch of 54,000 doses of pediatric bivalent vaccines against covid-19 arrived in Panama this Tuesday to be applied to children between 5 and 11 years of age, the Ministry of Health reported.
“This pediatric bivalent vaccine is authorized for use in people 5 to 11 years of age, as a single booster dose administered at least 2 months after completing a primary vaccination schedule with any monovalent covid-19 vaccine and receiving one of the doses. of the most recent booster of any authorized monovalent vaccine”, said the general coordinator of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI) of the Minsa, Itzel de Hewitt.
The vaccines arrived in a single batch with 54,000 doses and are scheduled for distribution starting this Wednesday in the 15 health regions nationwide, prioritizing areas with difficult access.
The official indicated that the bivalent vaccine for infants from 6 months to 4 years will soon arrive, which covers the original Wuhan strain, the Delta and Omicron BA 4 and BA 5 mutations that are currently circulating in Panama as well as internationally.
He added that the same vaccination strategy that has been coordinated with the Operation Panavac-19 team will continue, and that the vaccines will be applied in all Minsa health centers and Social Security Fund (CSS) polyclinics.
In the same way, he pointed out that the extramural vaccination days will continue in the main stations of the Panama Metro and shopping centers throughout the country, with the aim of reaching a greater number of people inoculated against covid-19.
Panama began last Saturday to apply the bivalent vaccine against covid-19 to the general population over 12 years of age, which offers greater protection against the original strain and omicron.
The Ministry of Health recalled in a statement that the bivalent vaccine is administered from the age of 12 and the person must have at least two monovalent vaccines.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on January 30 that covid-19 remains a health emergency of international scope because it continues to be “a dangerous infectious disease” that can cause considerable damage to people’s health and countries’ health systems.
