For just over a year the large centers of vaccination against COVID-19 in Caracas. Without official announcements about its closure, in the midst of a new increase in COVID-19 cases and before the call to be reinforced, vaccination depends on the outpatient network and the main pharmacies.
During a tour of Cocuyo effect this July 7, it was found that of the five vaccination posts consulted in the Libertador municipality only one remains active.
There are no longer officers guarding the side entrances of the Hotel Alba Caracas, the same ones through which dozens of people crossed shortly before to get vaccinated against COVID-19 on Mexico Avenue.
If someone approaches to ask about the day, they tell him that it was suspended “about three months ago.” El Alba was the first large vaccination center enabled in the capital in May 2021.
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A similar response is obtained by those who come to ask the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV), in Los Chaguaramos. There, workers from the institution report that the staff stopped vaccinating in May 2022.
In the parking lot of the Social Welfare Institute of the Armed Forces (Ipsfa), in Los Próceres, there are only empty seats left. The vaccination ended “three weeks ago,” in mid-June, reported a militiaman in charge of guarding the space. The point was active for a year.
Another of the initial vaccination posts was the covered field in Block 1 of mount piety, in the parish January 23; but by July it is gone, according to locals. Now they carry out vaccination days at the CDI Diego Santana, in La Piedrita, with the Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines.
The Comprehensive Diagnostic Center (CDI) Amelia Blanco, Located on Andrés Bello Avenue, it is one of the few initial vaccination points that remain active in Caracas.
They work from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 12 noon and give from the first to the third dose. They have Sinopharm and Sputnik Light (Component 1 of Sputnik V).
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There they also apply the third dose to children from 3 years old. His staff says that the center vaccinates about 200 people a day, and some of them come for the first dose. No fourth dose yet.
Other people, like Lidia Torres, a resident of the area, go to get their first booster: “I got the second dose in March 2021. I came today because, if there are three doses, I have to comply with all of them.”
In addition to vaccines against COVID-19, at the CDI Amelia Blanco there are also vaccines against polio, measles, toxoid, influenza and yellow fever (only pediatric).
Fourth dose: in some yes and others no
The scope of the application of the fourth dose or second booster in Caracas varies depending on the vaccination establishment: in some they affirm that they can put it on, while in others they are still waiting for guidelines from the Ministry of Health.
In just ten minutes on July 7, five people came in to ask CDI Amelia Blanco for the fourth dose. Although the Venezuelan authorities —through state media— have called for vaccination “Every four months” Since the last dose, the CDI staff assures that they have not given a fourth dose yet because they have not received instructions from the Ministry of Health.
“Until we receive an official statement from the Ministry of Health, we cannot put the fourth dose“, indicated Johanna Delgado, a CDI worker.
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Instead, the pharmacy chain Locatela participant in the vaccination plan, announced through social networks that he had the fourth dose.
In the Locatel of the Candelaria parish, located in the Locatel Doral Shopping Center, apply from the first to the fourth dose. Vaccination begins at 10:00 am and ends at 1:30 pm, Monday through Friday.
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At this location, the fourth dose is available for people 12 years of age and older, who are four months old with the third dose. For this July 7, some people attended to get vaccinated.
«There is a rebound of COVID-19 and people are not taking precaution. I have had neighbors who have died, that’s why I came to get vaccinated. I got the third dose in February,” said Yolanda de Avendaño, 70, who lives in San Bernardino.
Others of the stores Locatel where they put fourth dose is the one located in Santa Monicawhich works from Monday to Sunday from 8 am to 6 pm.
In the Sucre municipality, to the east of the city, there is another of the initial vaccination points that are still operational: Plaza Miranda in the two paths, in front of the mall Millennium. Also administers fourth dose.
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Daibry Montilla, in charge of vaccination at that center, assures that they work from Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm In recent days, she has noticed that many people come from the Libertador municipality of Caracas.
In the absence of information, infectologists recommend to the general population complete three doses of vaccine against COVID-19. The booster can be received at any vaccination center, regardless of where you were initially vaccinated.
Although there is still no universal call to receive a fourth dose, experts from the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases (SVI) urge the Ministry of Health to pronounce itself. The infectologists of the SVI recommend a fourth dose at people over 50 years of age and immunosuppressed, to the four months after receiving the first booster.
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