Thousands of additional vaccines arrive against COVID-19

The appointed Secretary of the Department of Health, PhD Carlos Mellado, Reported today that an additional 6,000 vaccines a week will be arriving and that several pharmacy chains will be joining the COVID-19 vaccination effort, and urged people over the age of 65 to wait to be contacted because receive their turn.

As announced by the Secretary, pharmacy chains Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Sam ‘si Amic have already started participating in vaccination and are expected to continue over the coming weeks. In addition, as more vaccines become available, they will be adding about 30 community pharmacies.

“We continue the effort to vaccinate patients over the age of 65. And we have succeeded. We are in a good situation for Puerto Rico right now. Every day we are getting better, and I really feel good about what it’s happening, ”Mellado said.

He said that today, Friday, 101,967 adults over the age of 65, 38,561 teachers, 2,939 bedridden people, 1,926 people with intellectual disabilities have been vaccinated. He added that 267,050 first doses and another 114,307 second doses have been supplied.

He explained that, as part of the vaccination efforts through the villages, known as vacutour, they would be tomorrow Saturday in Cataño, Baix Segura, Carolina and Loíza, with 1,000 vaccines at each of the points. He added that the vacutour would later be in Coamo, Maricao, Orocovis, to continue through all municipalities, “following the line of, number one, contagion; number two, number of elderly; and number three, access. And we will follow this point line “.

Meanwhile, tomorrow there will be mass testing activities, known as Coviveo in Humacao, Guayanilla and Moca.

“We will visit all the villages, we will do activities to vaccinate more people and we will meet the goal we have,” he insisted.

As for the involvement of pharmacy chains, he detailed that Walgreens has already started today, with 10,700 vaccines a week, which will be distributed in 103 stores across the island. CVS (2,000 vaccines in the Fajardo store), Costco and Walmart (4,000 vaccines, 25 stores) are starting next week. Walgreens has already vaccinated 37,911 long-term care patients.

Dr. Mellado urged the population to be patient and assured that everyone will have their vaccine. In particular, he addressed people over the age of 65, and assured that “they should not make pineapple” because they will be contacted by the Department of Health or some participating pharmacy to give them a turn and that they can be vaccinated.

He reiterated his call for calm and recalled that the group over 65 is a population of about 600,000 people and will therefore take time to vaccinate everyone.

“We want people to be calm, we want them to know that the vaccine is coming to them,” Mellado reiterated. “But they have to understand that the number of vaccines is limited and that vaccination is done by the number of people with the highest incidence. And this is something that I did not invent myself, it is something that is the normal process of vaccination “.

“These shifts will get the patient home, either by mail, or they’re going to call him. So the patient doesn’t have to go to any page, he doesn’t have to call anywhere. He’s just going to it’s time, “he said. “But there are more than 600,000 65-year-old patients in Puerto Rico. So my exhortation and communication will be to stay calm. The vaccine has arrived, the vaccine is not going to end. The CDC (Center for in Disease Control and Prevention) plans to continue sending vaccine after vaccine until all people in the states, territories and Puerto Rico are vaccinated. “

In another matter, the doctor commented that the DS has given some guidelines to the Department of Education which will have to be complied with by every school that is going to open. He explained that these guides are based on the guidelines provided for this purpose by the CDC, which have been improved with local tools, such as the bioportal and the tracking system. He added that the DS will be inspected by schools to ensure compliance with these protocols and will also maintain continuous monitoring of them. However, he clarified that the decision on when to open a school rests with the Department of Education.

Beyond being a public policy issue, Mellado advocated resuming classes in person for “a myriad of other health-related reasons” such as nutrition, immunization beyond the VOCID- 19, dental care, as well as the fact that an endless number of pediatricians and psychologists “who say that children should interact.”

In relation to the vaccination of health professionals, the doctor indicated that those health professionals who have not been vaccinated for whatever reason, can still do so. He recalled that already in the first phase of vaccination 110,000 health professionals were vaccinated.

“They have access to the vaccine. It does not mean that we have already closed this phase. Any health professional who is still missing, and decides to get vaccinated, of course we must protect it,” he said.