According to the Ministry of Health, another 18,000 bivalent doses for adults and 48,000 pediatric ones will enter the country in the coming weeks.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that some 18,000 doses of bivalent vaccine against COVID-19 for adults entered the country last Tuesday night.
Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines include a component of the parent virus strain and a component of the Omicron variant.
The authorities also indicated that in the remainder of February they will also receive 18,000 bivalent doses for adults, as well as 48,000 pediatric ones.
The arrival of these vaccines occurs after the National Vaccination and Epidemiology Commission (CNVE) by means of official letter MS-CNVE-0517-2022 dated November 24, 2022, requested the purchase of 150,000 pediatric vaccines for children under 5 years of age. , 160,000 pediatric doses for boys and girls from 5 to 11 years old and 506,000 bivalent vaccines for people over 12 years of age.
According to Salud, the bivalent vaccines will only be used as reinforcement for the fourth and fifth doses, and will not be used to start or complete schemes. This reinforcement will be applied once two months have elapsed after receiving the third dose.
According to data from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), from December 2020 to February 6, 12,750,554 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been placed in the country: 4,602,542 first doses, 4,310,983 second doses, 2,822,015 third doses, and 1,015,014 fourth doses.