Secretary of the Department of Health, Carlos Mellado, acknowledged today that it will be “difficult” to get vaccinated 70% of the population by the end of the summer due to the low dose flow the country received.
During a press conference, the official indicated that, at this moment, the country is receiving some 41,450 vaccines against him COVID-19 weekly, so it will be difficult to immunize 70% of the population. This figure is recommended by experts and health organizations to obtain a herd or collective immunity.
“I would not dare to venture once because we expect, like other states, an increase in the amount of vaccines to Puerto Rico. And that could change as the amount increases. At the moment, from a mathematical point of view, it is very difficult “, said Mellado. In December, General José Juan Reyes estimated that between July and August, 70% of the population was expected to be vaccinated.
He acknowledged that although he does not know when the number of vaccines the island will receive will increase, he expects this to happen at the end of February.
To date, the official has indicated that about 321,955 vaccines have been distributed on the island. While the country received about 352,050 vaccines.
“With 41,050 [vacunas] It is difficult to achieve this goal and especially when we know that in this phase of 65 years or more we have more than 600,000 patients and we are still carrying out the phases of the first respondents who are also taken to centers. We also have teachers “, he commented, who also mentioned that a flow of a little more than 80,000 to 90,000 vaccines weekly to obtain herd immunity until the end of summer.
Mellado could not say how many people over the age of 65 have been vaccinated so far. He indicated that approximately 600,000 people in Puerto Rico are 65 years of age or older.
For his part, Mellado indicated that they are trying to increase vaccination among people aged 65 and over, so they are considering reducing the margin of vaccines distributed to first responders and educators.
“What we talked about is a small reduction in the margin of the amount of vaccines. Until today, we didn’t have to do it this week because we kept them 7,000 vaccines which we will use in 196 center“He added.
The official pointed out that as of this week, about 7,000 vaccines will be distributed to the National Guard for the inoculation of about 196 care and care centers that could have been left out of the vaccination led by pharmaceutical companies Walgreens and CVS to these facilities. .
Mellado even pointed out that Walgreens and CVS have started vaccinating people aged 65 and over in their pharmacies, despite the fact that these institutions have not completed vaccination in long-term care centers. The official said Walgreens had been vaccinated since last Friday 1,970 patientswhile CVS – which began on Thursday – was vaccinated 350 patients. Mellado also indicated that the College of Surgeons vaccinated 531 patients join the bed that is not in long-term care units.
For his part, Mellado assured that all the island’s municipalities have a vaccination center. However, in the face of complaints about the lack of vaccines in the municipalities in the center of the island, the official claimed that due to insufficient vaccines, they provided only 300 doses to each of these vaccination centers.
“The number of vaccines had to be reduced. Many of them want to give them 400 and 500 vaccines and they can’t. They can’t deliver more than 300 vaccines per center. We can’t do it because there are 41,450 vaccines [semanales], yes, all fish cities [Centros] 330 especially Naranjito … and the Integral Mountain Health Center, receive vaccines. It is not the amount they would probably like to have, because we cannot give it to them “, said the secretary at the end of the conference.