Nurse Mirna Esmeralda Bru de Murgas, in the Atlacatl Medical Unit of the Social Security, received the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 in the country.
El Salvador received this Wednesday the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 with which in the afternoon began with the immunization of medical staff working in the first line of care against the pandemic .
The first to receive the vaccine are the staff of the Atlacatl clinic of the Salvadoran Institute of Social Security, where government authorities have been transferred. Nurse Mirna Esmeralda Bru de Murgas was the first in line to receive the first dose of the antidote that offers up to 76% efficacy against coronavirus.
“We will be vaccinating about 2,000 people a day. We will be increasing the number of people vaccinated per day,” President Nayib Bukele told a news conference. He added that the batch received today is part of the 2 million doses negotiated with AstraZeneca.
Although officials have not given further details on the logistics and vaccination plan, Minister Francisco Alabi has noted that it is estimated that a total of 4.5 million Salvadorans will be vaccinated but that day only 20,000 doses were received. Photo EDH / Jessica Orellana
Although officials have not given further details on the logistics and vaccination plan, Minister Francisco Alabi has noted that a total of 4.5 million Salvadorans are estimated to be vaccinated. The second group to receive the antidote will be older adults and people suffering from chronic diseases, the third phase includes Salvadorans between 18 and 54 years.
The first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was a nurse at Zacamil Hospital.
Health authorities reiterate that pregnant and underage women will not be vaccinated.
This Wednesday, a load of 20,000 vaccines was received at the Óscar Arnulfo Romero airport, which were transferred to the National Biological Center of the Ministry of Health (CENABI), located in Soyapango, in several trucks equipped with a refrigeration system. which allows to maintain the cold chain of the drug.
Medical staff are waiting to be vaccinated at the ISSS Atlacatl Clinic. Photo: @SecPrensaSV
From this point they began to be distributed to different medical centers in the country, for which it has been necessary 24/2 of land transport, one air and one sea.
LEE ALSO: VIDEO: El Salvador receives first batch of 20,000 AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 from India
“This day is historic for the country,” Minister Alabi added after receiving the plane that arrived in El Salvador in the morning. He noted that there are eight cold rooms in the CENABI that are added to the refrigerators located in each immunization center to develop all the vaccination logistics.
Photo by Jessica Orellana
“We have the largest cold chain in Latin America per capita, so we have the capacity to be able to store under the ultra-low freeze and low freeze mode,” he added.
Health authorities say they have a capacity to store up to 16 million doses of the antidote to the coronavirus.
El Salvador received this Wednesday the first batch of vaccines from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca from India. The vaccines will be applied to front-line workers. EDH / Jonathan Tobies video
PHOTO GALLERY: In pictures the arrival of the first vaccines against COVID-19 in El Salvador
According to official data, as of February 17, El Salvador had 58,023 infected Covid-19s nationwide and 1,767 deaths. These figures are inconsistent with data handled by mayors nationwide reporting at least 1,879 deaths from the virus, while 3,727 died on suspicion of Covid-19 and 1,308 burials were diagnosed with atypical pneumonia in 257 of the 262 municipalities that make up the country. The data for the municipalities are until the beginning of November 2020.