The Special Commission for Emergency Monitoring and COVID-19 Disaster Risk Management, this morning received the Deputy Minister of Health, María Elena Aguilar, which provided details on the acquisition process and the immunization program for the population with the bivalent vaccine.
Aguilar reported that in this first phase, which began on January 1, health personnel are being vaccinated; however, social unrest and roadblocks have made it difficult to distribute it to various health care warehouses nationwide.
“We have not been able to take an alternative route to Ica, for example, due to the technical condition of the refrigerated cars, as they cannot cross sandbanks. Our goals and speed of application are lagging behind,” said Dr. Aguilar.
AIM: Bivalent vaccines against COVID-19 in Peru: what is it, how do they work and when will they arrive?
Push forward
The Deputy Minister of Health indicated that 11,533 doses have been applied to date. For the second phase, hospitalizations, nursing homes, pensioners and centers for the elderly are planned. For the third stage, to health care centers, home-to-home, people with comorbidities and then to the general population.
“About 13 million bivalent vaccines between Pfizer and Moderna will arrive between January and March,” he said.
The president of the special commission, Juan Mori (AP), took advantage of the presence of the deputy health minister to ask for explanations on the entry of a batch of bivalent vaccines in November, which was not reported in a timely manner.
The Minsa representative chronologically detailed how the more than 552,000 doses of Pfizer bivalent vaccines were hospitalized, the implementation of the protocol and the training of staff for its application; However, he took responsibility before the members of the commission for the omission of information on the arrival of bivalent vaccines at the time.
It should be noted that the COVID-19 Special Commission has summoned the Minister of Health, Rosa Gutiérrez, to the aforementioned session; however, due to agenda issues she was unable to attend.
