The 91,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines that the Dominican Republic received this Tuesday are from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca / Oxford, manufactured by SK Bioscience of South Korea.
The vaccines were received by the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Daniel Rivera, who explained that this batch represents the first batch of a total of 2,169,600 doses that the country achieved with its own financing, through the Revolving Fund of the Pan American Health Organization. (PAHO / WHO), in charge of the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines for the countries of the Americas before the COVAX Mechanism.
The remaining load will serve to finish inoculating a large part of the health sector personnel with the second dose, which includes nurses, bioanalysts, doctors, and X-ray technicians, according to the official.
“The important thing for us is that a large part of all those personnel who work in health centers were vaccinated with AstraZeneca, for which they already have the availability of vaccines so that, between eight to twelve weeks, they can receive their second dose, and so we are within the margin, which leads to the tranquility of those people who were a little nervous, and wanted to wear the SINOVAC, and we say no. We recommend that those who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca should apply the second dose of this same vaccine, “said the minister.
Rivera thanked the regional COVAX mechanism for the facilities so that the country could obtain the biological AstraZeneca / Oxford, which is applied in two doses per person with a time interval of 8 to 12 weeks.
For his part, Dr. Oliver Ronveaux, representative of the Pan American Health Organization PAHO / WHO in the country, affirmed that the arrival of these vaccines represents a valuable contribution to the National Vaccination Plan that began in the Dominican Republic on February 16. , and recognized the great effort and work that the Dominican authorities have been doing for its implementation.
“As an organization, we reiterate our commitment to continue accompanying the country in responding to this health emergency and safeguarding the health of all who live in its territory,” said Dr. Ronveaux.
The COVAX mechanism is a global effort whose main objective is to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines against COVID-19 worldwide. To date, 70 countries and territories have received 32 million doses through this mechanism, whose goal is to protect 20% of the global population in 2021.
It was established by the Coalition for the Promotion of Innovations for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Organization World Health Organization (WHO), in order to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
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