Canada donated 319,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Costa Rica

San Jose, Sept. 2 (EFE). The Government of Canada has donated 319,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Costa Rica that will arrive in the Central American country this weekend, the Presidential House said Thursday.
The vaccines donated by Canada are from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and, according to the Costa Rican government, are the result of work the Department of State has done with the Government of Canada to finalize the donation and transport logistics.
“The bicentennial month begins with great news, beginning with the week in which the largest number of vaccines to date is delivered with a donation from the Government of Canada. This delivery will enable the strengthening and acceleration of the application of the first and second doses,” stressed the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, who visited Thursday A vaccination center in San Jose.
The vaccines donated by Canada will arrive in Costa Rica between next Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday, and this country of 5.1 million people will receive 695,190 doses this week alone, since Wednesday. 204 doses match the two-contract with AstraZeneca, and 171,990 doses are expected to arrive from Pfizer this Thursday.
Alvarado thanked the Government of Canada for the donation, as it “brings us closer to the goal of herd immunity,” and called on residents to continue going to vaccination centers.
With this donation, Costa Rica will reach a total of 5,758,005 vaccine doses received, of which 3,987,555 doses are from the purchase contract with Pfizer/BioNTech, and 775,200 are from the contract with AstraZeneca; 172,950 from the Covax mechanism, 503,100 from a grant from the United States and 319,200 from a grant from Canada.
The most recent official data indicates that as of August 30, 3,059,023 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine (59% of the country’s total population), of whom 1,219,482 have already had two doses (23,6% of the population).
This week, authorities began an acceleration plan for second doses that consists of reducing the distance between the first and second vaccines to 8 weeks for people aged 30 to 57 years. Previously, the gap was 12 weeks.
The decision was made with the aim of curbing hospitalizations and deaths, which have risen in the past month.
In the past week, new cases and deaths increased by more than 20% compared to the previous week, while hospitals reported high occupancy levels and even saturation in some.
Experts attributed the increase in cases in recent weeks to the relaxation of the population due to the progress of vaccination and also to the circulation of the delta variable.
So far in the pandemic, Costa Rica has accumulated 466,574 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5,523 deaths.