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     - Photo via National Emergency Commission - |
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Published on Monday, February 7,
2022
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Costa Rica has imported 8,639,385 vaccines against covid-19, according to the National Emergency Commission. The most recent shipment arrived on a DHL cargo flight at the Juan Santamarķa International Airport, containing 69,060 doses of Pfizer pediatric vaccines. Of these 48,000 will be used to continue with the vaccination of children from the ages of 5 to 11 years old. This cargo is part of the new 3.5 million purchase agreement to continue with the vaccination of children and booster shots. The country has already imported 6,002,165 Pfizer vaccines, completing a purchase made in 2020 for inoculating more than 3 million people. Additionally, Costa Rica had already purchased and imported one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to treat more than 500,000 people. The goverment also already imported259,350 doses of the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX). These are part of the purchased 2,037,600 doses. COVAX is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to vaccines approved by the World Health Organization. Last week, Spain confirmed the second donation of 500,000 Moderna doses of the vaccine against covid-19, which will be used for booster shots. The cargo is expected to arrive sometime this month, authorities said. Costa Rica has received more than one million vaccines donated by friendly countries and biotechnology corporations: such as 31,400 doses donated by AstraZeneca; 130 doses donated by Pfizer; 56,800 doses donated by the Dominican Republic; 50,000 doses donated by Austria; 69,600 doses donated by Spain; 319,200 doses donated by Canada and 503,100 doses donated by the United States. There are more than enough vaccines available to get Costa Rica to the goal of herd immunity by vaccinating 83% of the population, which is about 4.2 million people. So far, 3.6 million people are fully vaccinated. As of Friday, 7,641 covid-19 related deaths were recorded, approximately a 1.1% death rate, according to the Ministry of Health. The pandemic has killed more than 5.7 million people worldwide, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. ----------------- What should authorities do to speed up the vaccination campaign? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com   
        
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