(CRHoy.com) The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) has been clear that it has placed the largest number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that is in its hands.
However, errors in handling when storing and placing the vaccine have caused more than a thousand doses were lost and could not be put on.
The CCSS Health Services Network Directorate indicated that according to the cut of data collected to July 2021, sand they recorded around 1064 missed or discarded doses since vaccination began the previous December.
This number could be higher, since the cut was made about 3 months ago and does not take into account the 264 doses of the Pfizer vaccine stolen in the health area of San Rafael de Alajuela.
Why were the doses missed?
The more than 1,000 missed doses are due to malpractice issues when storing them or when transferring them and placing them on people.
As explained by the Fund, in the face of questions from this medium, the most recurrent reasons regarding waste and misuse are the following:
- Leftovers in jars that cannot be completely removed.
- Cold chain problem associated with suspension of electrical fluid.
- Accidental rupture due to falling of the bottle.
The CCSS pointed out that the most frequent error for which most of these vaccines have been lost is because in each bottle there are leftover doses and these cannot be removed because the amount is not enough to complete the total amount of liquid needed. .
Likewise, problems have persisted in the storage of vaccines, specifically the suspension of electricity, which causes the cold chain in which they have to be not adequate.
Finally, the network management assured that vaccines have also been discarded due to accidental breakage of the blisters (falls, blows, openings), which cause the loss of around 6 doses of the vaccine against COVID-19.
The CCSS has been clear throughout the vaccination process that vaccines that are prepared one day must be placed, obligatorily, since they cannot be stored again.
Given this, it was also consulted on how many doses were lost by abstentionism or due to lack of people to give them the vaccines prepared, however, the institution assured that so far, no health area has reported any particular case.
“There are no missed vaccines due to lack of assistance to apply them, this by virtue of the fact that, when the health areas arrive their assistance monitoring, they have the possibility of activating their contingency plans and in this way, apply the planned doses for the day“; concluded the Health Services Network Directorate.
–
