Nurse Mirna Esmeralda Moreno de Murgas, within the Atlacatl Social Security Medical Unit, received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
El Salvador received on Wednesday the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 with which the afternoon began with the immunization of medical staff working on 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 the government authorities were transferred. Nurse Mirna Esmeralda Moreno de Murgas was the first in line to receive the first dose of antidote that offers up to 76% efficacy against coronavirus.
“We will vaccinate about 2,000 people a day. We will increase 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 did not provide further details on the logistics and vaccination plan, Minister Francisco Alabí said he estimated to vaccinate a total of 4.5 million Salvadorans, but only 20,000 doses were received on that day. Photo EDH / Jessica Orellana
Although officials did not provide further details on the logistics and vaccination plan, Minister Francisco Alabí said he estimated to vaccinate a total of 4.5 million Salvadorans. The second group to receive the antidote will be the elderly and people with chronic diseases, the third phase includes Salvadorans between 18 and 54 years old.
The first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was a nurse at Zacamil Hospital.
Health authorities reiterate that pregnant women and minors will not be vaccinated.
On Wednesday, a shipment of 20,000 vaccines was received at Óscar Arnulfo Romero Airport, which were transferred to the National Biology Center of the Ministry of Health (CENABI), located in Soyapango, in several trucks equipped with a refrigeration system that allows the chain to be maintained.cooled from the drug.
The medical staff is waiting to be vaccinated at the ISSS Atlacatl clinic. Photo: @SecPrensaSV
From this moment, they started to be distributed to different medical centers in the country, for which 24 means of land, one air and one sea were needed.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: El Salvador receives first batch of 20,000 AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 in India
“This day is historic for the country,” Minister Alabí added after receiving the plane that arrived in El Salvador in the morning. He pointed out that there are eight cold rooms in CENABI that are being added to the refrigerators located in each immunization center to develop all the vaccination logistics.
Photographs by Jessica Orellana
“We have the largest cold chain in Latin America per capita, which is why we have the ability to store in ultra low freezing and low freezing modes,” he added.
Health authorities say there is a capacity to store up to 16 million doses of coronavirus antidote.
El Salvador received on Wednesday the first batch of vaccines from the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company in India, which will be applied to front-line workers. Video EDH / Jonathan Tobías
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 people infected with Covid-19 nationwide and 1,767 deaths. These figures are not consistent with data managed by municipalities nationwide representing at least 1,879 deaths from the virus, while 3,727 died on suspicion of Covid-19 and there were 1,308 funerals diagnosed with atypical pneumonia in 257 of the 262 municipalities that make up the country. The data of the municipalities are until the beginning of November 2020.