According to government projections, three different vaccines will arrive in Nicaragua. The authorities intend to immunize at least 55% of the population in the first stage of the campaign. Meanwhile, the continuous agglomeration of people and independent organizations are denouncing irregularities in the handling of the pandemic.
This week, the Government of Nicaragua announced the approval of two vaccines that would arrive in the Central American country in the coming months: Sputnik V, developed by the Russian state laboratory Gamaleya, and Covishield, of Indian origin. Both received authorization “under the emergency use certificate.”
The urgent approval of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) comes just days after the shipment of 504,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to Nicaragua with the WHO COVAX mechanism was announced. These would be the first to arrive in February.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet being delivered because the latest reviews are pending, which we believe will occur in one or two weeks, when the analysis by the World Health Organization is completed, and if they grant authorization for the use of emergency ”, declared on Wednesday Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The official added that each country will receive a “technical orientation” together with the vaccines. For now, several countries in the European Union have decided not to use the AstraZeneca drug in people over 65 years of age due to lack of information on possible side effects in this age group.
For her part, the Vice President and Government spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, announced that they are coordinating a delivery of vaccines with the Executive of India. Although he did not specify the number of doses or if it is a donated or purchased shipment, he promised that the vaccines will arrive in the country soon. “We do not give dates because everything can be delayed one day, two days, one week. We already see the delays that have occurred in Europe, for example, and we want to continue to be prudent, cautious, and responsible ”, he justified.
The newspaper La Prensa confirmed with diplomatic sources from India that Nicaragua will receive 500,000 vaccines from that country, of which 200,000 thousand will be donated and 300,000 for commercialization.
Nicaragua intends to immunize 55% of its population in the first stage of vaccination
Last January, the Nicaraguan government announced a vaccine purchase plan with which it intends, in a first phase, to immunize 55 percent of the population and buy 7.4 million doses.
“We signed an agreement with CABEI (Central American Bank for Economic Integration) of up to 50 million (dollars) and an agreement with the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) for an operation of about 57 million (dollars) to acquire the vaccines, ”Iván Acosta, Minister of Finance and Public Credit, told official media.
According to the projections of the Nicaraguan Executive, the Sputnik V vaccine would be administered to 1.9 million Nicaraguans (3 out of 10) in a first stage and, although details about its acquisition have not been disclosed, it was recently announced that the Russian antidote against Covid-19 shows 91.6% efficacy, according to the scientific publication The Lancet.
The drug developed by the Gamaleya laboratory is supplied in two versions, with different formulas that help stimulate the immune system. It shows an efficacy of 73.6% the first 15 days and up to 100% 21 days after being applied. Sputnik V can be contained at intervals between 2 ° and 8 ° C, allowing it to be stored in a conventional refrigerator.
Doctors warn of the second wave of Covid-19 and the danger of constant crowds
Dr. Leonel Argüello Yrigoyen, an epidemiologist who is a member of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee for addressing the coronavirus, declared that, despite the arrival of vaccines in the country, there is a “contradiction” with respect to the rest of the prevention measures against Covid-19.
“Nicaragua does not have a national answer. Here the image has been being sold that the virus is controlled, which is not true, and now they are beginning to talk about vaccines, but these are the sixth prevention measure, “he said. At the same time, he suggested that in a vaccination plan (not yet presented to the public), the first people to be immunized should be “health workers, older than 60 years, disabled, and people with some chronic diseases, indigenous and Afro-descendant” .
The Sandinista government carried out the inauguration of the construction and equipping of a remote secondary classroom in the Madre del Divino Pastor school center in the El Murciélago community of the Bonanza municipality. pic.twitter.com/diELZEUsfJ
– El 19 Digital (@ el19digital) February 3, 2021
On the other hand, independent doctors have warned the public about a second outbreak of Covid-19 in Nicaragua, while the authorities continue to convene weekly festivals, cultural, sports and political meetings despite the pandemic. Just this weekend, the government announced 4,500 massive activities. Likewise, last Monday, around 1.8 million students from public schools returned to classrooms after the start of the school year.
“We are on the rise of this second wave, we don’t know if it will be as big as the first or smaller. We do not know yet, but we are clear that this has been determined by the agglomerations that have occurred before, because in the country there is a false security of virus control, which has not been done, ”Argüello Yrigoyen explained to France 24.
So far, the Government reports 170 deaths and 6,299 cases of Covid-19 in Nicaragua, although the Citizen Observatory, a citizen network that monitors the pandemic, ensures that the figure rises to 2,947 related deaths, as well as 12,716 confirmed cases.
.
source https://pledgetimes.com/nicaragua-approves-the-emergency-use-of-sputnik-v-and-covishield-vaccines/
Disqus comments