“Ecuador Incorporates COVID-19 Vaccination into Regular Immunization Schedule, Welcomes WHO Resolution”

Vaccination against COVID-19 will be incorporated into the regular immunization schedule in Ecuador.

It is one of the recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO), once it terminated the coronavirus as a health emergency and Ecuador welcomed it.

Ecuador welcomes WHO resolution that terminated COVID-19 as a health emergency

The Minister of Health, José Ruales, indicated that the vaccination of the first and second reinforcement with the vaccine is maintained Sinovac, both in health centers and in medical brigades.

However, the vaccinometer, a statistical record that counted the doses applied by brand, province, and age, and which was implemented to follow the immunization process, has not updated the figures, since the last publication date was March 16, 2023.

The Government has stated that Ecuador reached 85% vaccination with the complete scheme, that is, two doses, which is equivalent to 14.2 million doses applied, while with the first booster or third injection it reached 56%, 7.7 million doses supplied to the population.

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Ruales mentioned that he expected the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to meet in June, so that the bivalent vaccine is definitively incorporated, but he clarified that, for now, immunization will go to people at risk, over 60 years who have concomitant diseases due to immunosuppression and who have already received the additional boosters.

Ecuador awaits the arrival of 360,000 doses of bivalent vaccines from Pfizer in the coming days.

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Bivalent means that it has two types of strains: an omicron strain and an original or ancestral strain, the official explained.

Ruales indicated that it will be defined if it will be an annual or semi-annual vaccination, but it will begin to be applied in the month of June. (I)