Health says 73 providers have already started vaccinating adults aged 65 and over

Some 73 health care providers across the island have already received doses of COVID-19 vaccine and have begun vaccinating adults over the age of 65 or older as part of the start of phase 1-b vaccination, said Dr. Iris Cardona, director of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program of the Department of Health this Thursday.

“The list (of providers) is being debugged. The providers that have been registered are close to 300 and include a range of different health facilities. We are debugging a list of those who received vaccines this week.” indicated Cardona. “The list we want to publish is so that citizens can have an effective way to get their turn or appointment to be vaccinated,” underlined.

The debugging of this list is underway since Monday, after late Sunday Health published a list of 56 providers with their phone numbers and emails, so they could start receiving calls from seniors for guidance and appointments regarding vaccination in the respective establishments.

But in general, the public found that the providers on the list were not prepared to answer questions such as the vaccination start date at their centers, in the luck that they received a response to the call or email.

Some providers have assured this medium that they received an extraordinarily high number of calls and requests, which led to the collapse of lines and delays in responses, although both the granting of appointments has already begun. such as the vaccination process.

“We are doing the exercise of corroborating the telephone number and having the ability to serve the public,” said Cardona. “Many of these vendors have a strong desire to help and have moved to improve processes,” assured the doctor.

Health, meanwhile, continues to work on a uniform appointment system that includes all the facilities that will be administering the vaccine, although there is no date for the launch of this electronic platform.

“Most hospitals in Puerto Rico are cooperating, in the same way medical groups, CDT, 330 centers, mayors, all want to cooperate. The biggest limitation is the number of vaccines that arrive each week,” he argued.

Of the total of 42,450, about 11,000 go directly to the vaccination of elderly adults residing in long-term care centers, administered by Walgreens pharmacies, mostly, and the CVS chain. The National Guard stores another 10,000 that are administered at its regional vaccination centers and other initiatives, while the remaining approximately 20,000 are distributed among health care providers authorized to administer the vaccine.

As for older adults in long-term care centers, some 4,000 people had been vaccinated by Tuesday, including residents and staff at 126 facilities, Cardona said.