The Undersecretary of the Department of Health of Puerto Rico, Iris Cardona, confirmed that the agency expects to receive in the next few hours the first shipment of vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer against covid-19 to launch tomorrow its distribution to the personal physician in hospitals.
Cardona, in a radio interview, said that the first delivery of vaccines will arrive during today, a long-awaited news while the pandemic continues to advance on the island, where according to the report of the Department of Health on Monday ten deaths from covid-19 and 461 new confirmed positives were reported of SARS-CoV-2.
The official indicated that, in addition to the delivery of vaccines today, he would have made two more in subsequent days, although the date was not specified.
“We will start the first vaccination phase tomorrow. It will be distributed to the 65 hospitals in Puerto Rico so that vaccination of all hospital staff can begin,” Cardona said.
He stressed that the vaccine will be distributed to the personal physician in hospitals, a process that will last for days.
Cardona clarified that information on the arrival of vaccines was communicated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The number of vaccines that Puerto Rico will receive this week is around 30,000 doses.
Cardona’s announcement comes at a time of great concern for the health authorities of the Caribbean island, where cases continue to rise and the government and doctors fear that the Christmas holidays will be an added factor in contagion.
The Department of Health reported today that, with the additional ten failures, the total number of deaths is 1,282.
The Puerto Rican Executive, in the face of an advance in the contagion and an increase in the death toll, included in the current executive order measures such as the dry law on weekends, confinement on Sundays and the daily closing of shops at 8:30 pm.