Colombia to Administer First COVID-19 Vaccines in Early 2021 - Health Minister
The Colombian government plans to start vaccination against COVID-19 in the first half of nest year, Health Minister Fernando Ruiz said
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2020) The Colombian government plans to start vaccination against COVID-19 in the first half of nest year, Health Minister Fernando Ruiz said.
"[The country has] vaccination plans for three months that initially cover health workers, people aged over 60 and the population with comorbidities, and we expect to administer the first vaccines in the first half of 2021," Ruiz said on Wednesday.
According to the minister, groups of people who are less likely to develop life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19 would have access to the vaccine in 2022.
Ruiz said that the second batch of innoculations would be aimed at generating herd immunity by vaccinating between 50 and 60 percent of the population. So far, the government has the budget necessary to immunize 15 million people out of total 50 million of Colombian population.
On the same day, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced the extension of health emergency due to the spread of COVID-19 disease until February 28, 2021 to continue to maintain control and the detailed monitoring of the coronavirus situation in the country.
To date, Colombia has registered over 1,270,000 positive COVID-19 cases, including almost 1,75,000 people who have recovered and 35,860 patients who have died.
The country has reportedly signed agreements to procure coronavirus vaccine with the six leading vaccine production companies Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Janssen, Sinopharm, CanSino and the Serum Institute of India.