Ruiz confirmed that among the issues discussed with the US Government is the intention to receive more vaccines, especially aimed at Venezuelan migrant population.
“We have around 800,000 regularized Venezuelan migrants included in the plan, but we have 922,000 Venezuelans who are not there on a regular basis and we need to apply vaccines to this group,” he said.
The Minister also confessed that he also intends to receive some vaccines from Canada.
“The above includes vaccines donated by the United States, as well as by the Government of Canada, which, in a meeting with PAHO, requested to purchase them through direct contracts, ”he said.
He pointed out that Colombia will also apply to obtain vaccines through the Humanitarian Fund of the Covax mechanism.
“We talked with Pfizer and Moderna about the acquisition of vaccines for 2022, how are the schedules, what would be the availability of vaccines, as well as the studies they are doing on the decline of immunity and the reality is that there are still no conclusive studies in this regard. ”, He indicated.
The Minister revealed that he also asked about the delivery schedule for the pending vaccines, the dates of which are fully established in the contracts.
“Delivery schedules and contracts were also discussed, there is a part of tranquility, especially with Moderna and Pfizer, considering that with AstraZeneca we have had delays in deliveries and we specified a much clearer schedule,” he said.
In the case of Janssen vaccines, He said that important steps were taken to confirm the arrival of the doses contracted by Colombia.
“Yesterday the issue was unraveled with the FDA. Which is very good news and, as far as we speak, Colombia is in the position one of deliveries in Latin America, which is why we said that we need that commitment to be honored. There are 9 million doses of which we have received 460 thousand ”, he pointed out.
You may be interested: Unemployment in Colombia falls to 14.4% in June, according to Dane
Ruiz was emphatic in stating that on the budget, Colombia plans to purchase more vaccines.
“We are attentive to the scientific evidence, which is not yet complete, regarding the possibility of a reinforcement. The acquisition of vaccines must be done in advance and anticipate”He added.
He stated that they are awaiting the scientific evidence to know if there is a need for a reinforcement of the vaccines applied in the country.
– .
