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The 47,500 vaccines of Modern that the government of Puerto Rico had planned to receive arrived this morning on the island, confirmed the assistant general of the National Guard José Reyes in The New Day.
“All the vaccines we were waiting for were delivered in four simultaneous deliveries,” Reis said. The delivery took place three days before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its emergency use last Friday night, after a group of experts gave its approval in a 20 to 0 vote.
The assistant general explained that part of the doses of the vaccines will be used to culminate in the vaccination of health professionals who do not work in hospitals, while he predicts that delivery will be enough to start subphase 1b.
Learn more: What are the differences between Pfizer and Moderna vaccines?
“We are concentrating on health professionals. We will continue with first response staff and then essential staff,” he said. “First responders such as police, firefighters, medical emergencies, municipal and state emergency management. All these groups are part of this first phase, as well as essential staff, people with critical conditions, as the inventory arrives we will open this range of vaccinations, “Reis said.
Once the vaccines reached the island, National Guard troops protected the doses in four locations: 20,000 were located at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Buchanan in Guaynabo; 10,000 were located at the Central Caribbean University in Bayamón; another 10,000 are already stored at the School of Medicine in Ponce; and the remaining 7,500 were protected at the De Diego Research Foundation in San Juan. Vaccines from the company Moderna, the second to receive an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), require freezers of -20 degrees Celsius.
The general also said that on Wednesday the first Regional Vaccination Center at the Pedrín Zorilla Coliseum in San Juan must be ready.
In the following days, simultaneously, Reyes assured that the regional centers in Ponce, Caguas and Arecibo will be ready. It will be in these centers where subphase 1b will begin to run. Regarding the coordination for the shifts of the groups that will be vaccinated, the official said that in recent weeks has been asking the heads of agencies and public entities the lists of employees interested in being vaccinated.
These lists will be used when verifying the identity of the person, who will have to carry their identification card when they go to one of the vaccination centers.
Puerto Rico already received a first shipment of 30,225 doses of the vaccine last week Pfizer, The first to receive FDA approval.
Kings too confirmed that 21,400 doses of this vaccine will arrive on the island on Wednesday, Which will be distributed in a second installment to the country’s 65 hospitals, as well as primary medical groups and health centers that meet federal requirements.