Native name | Plan Nacional de Vacunación contra la Covid-19 |
---|---|
Date | 17 February 2021 | – present
Cause | COVID-19 pandemic |
Target | Immunisation of Colombians against COVID-19 |
Organised by | Ministry of Health of Colombia |
Participants | 913,961 doses administered Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac (15 March 2021, 23:59 UTC–5) 44,967 total fully vaccinated people (to which the first and second dose of vaccine were administered) |
Website | Vacunación contra COVID-19 |
The COVID-19 vaccination program in Colombia is an ongoing effort of mass immunization put in place by the Colombian government in order to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 virus was confirmed to have reached Colombia on 6 March 2020.[1][2] Colombia's preparation and readiness for a vaccine program allowed it to join the first group of countries who received vaccines through COVAX.[3][4] The first vaccine in Colombia was given to a nurse on 17 February 2021.[5] As of 15 March 2021, 913,961 vaccine dosis have been administered across the country, and 44,967 people have received two doses.[6]
Background
Purchase agreements
On 28 July 2020, Health Minister Fernando Ruiz stated in an interview with W Radio that Colombia had signed confidentiality agreements with two pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, for the acquisition of a vaccine for COVID-19, and that the country would seek agreements with at least three other companies.[7]
Clinical trials
On 24 August, Minister Ruiz confirmed the participation of Colombian volunteers in the Phase III trials of the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine, developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The clinical trials were scheduled to take place within weeks, once the report on the previous stages of the vaccine was available. Ruiz added that a confidentiality agreement had already been signed.[8] On 7 October, the Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica began, with the application of the first dose to a volunteer in Floridablanca.[9] The trials of this vaccine were being carried out in 10 medical centers throughout the country. On 12 October, Johnson & Johnson announced it would briefly pause the trials after one volunteer became ill with "an unexplained disease".[10]
Vaccination schedule
After the Colombian government was promised 40 million doses from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, on 18 December 2020 the government announced a schedule for the vaccination program.[11] Mass vaccination was scheduled to begin in February 2021 and would be divided into five stages, with the goal of achieving herd immunity. In the first phase, the objective will be reducing mortality and severe case incidence rates from COVID-19, as well as protecting health workers. The second phase will be aimed at reducing infection rates. The government expects to vaccinate roughly 70% of the Colombian population, or 35.7 million people. People who have already suffered the disease will not be vaccinated, nor will children under 16 as vaccines have not yet been tested on that age group.[12]
Phases and stages of Colombian vaccination plan | ||
---|---|---|
Phase 1 | Stage 1 | All front-line health and support workers, as well as people aged over 80, who are considered at highest risk. |
Stage 2 | Health workers in second and third lines of attention, as well as people aged 60–79. | |
Stage 3 | People aged 16–60 with comorbidities, and all elementary and high school teachers. | |
Phase 2 | Stage 4 | Institutional caregivers and population involved in risky occupations and situations. |
Stage 5 | People aged 16–60 without comorbidities. |
On 29 January 2021, President Iván Duque announced that the process of mass vaccination in Colombia would begin on 20 February 2021, along with the signing of the decree for the National Plan of Vaccination which had been announced in December as the country's guideline for mass vaccination.[13]
Beginning of vaccinations
On 15 February 2021, Minister Ruiz confirmed that an intensive care nurse from Sincelejo's University Hospital and another nurse from the National Cancerology Institute in Bogotá would be the first two people to be vaccinated in the country, on 17 February.[14] As planned, intensive care nurse Verónica Machado was the first to be vaccinated on the morning of 17 February, under widespread media coverage.[5]
Vaccines on order
Vaccine | Progress | Doses ordered | Approval | Deployment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pfizer–BioNTech | Phase III clinical trials | 10 million | 5 January 2021[15] | 15 February 2021[16] |
Sinovac | Phase III clinical trials | 2.5 million | 3 February 2021[17] | 20 February 2021[18] |
COVAX | Phase III clinical trials | 10 million | 22 September 2020[19] | 1 March 2021[20] |
Oxford-AstraZeneca | Phase III clinical trials | 10 million | 23 February 2021[21] | Pending |
Moderna | Phase III clinical trials | 10 million | Pending | Pending |
Janssen | Phase III clinical trials | 9 million | Pending | Pending |
Deployment
On 29 January, Duque confirmed the purchase of 10 million doses from Moderna and 2.5 million doses from Sinovac. Along with 10 million doses from Pfizer–BioNTech, 10 million doses from Oxford–AstraZeneca, 9 million doses from Janssen, and 10 million doses through COVAX, the government expected to be able to cover the 34 million Colombians eligible for vaccination.[13]
On 15 February, the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech, containing 50,000 doses, arrived at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá where it was received by President Iván Duque, Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez, and Minister of Health Fernando Ruiz. Duque said that this first batch of vaccines will be destined for front-line health and support personnel, while also confirming that the Colombian government expected the arrival of 1,600,000 additional doses within the following 30 days.[16]
On 19 February, the Ministry of Health confirmed that at least 45,000 doses out of the first shipment of 192,000 doses of the vaccine by Sinovac, which were expected to arrive in the country the following day, would be sent to the municipalities of Leticia, Puerto Nariño, Mitú, and Inírida in the departments of Amazonas, Vaupés, and Guainía to immunize the entirety of the population aged over 18. Those three departments border Brazil, and the Colombian government's intent was to epidemiologically "blockade" the Brazilian variant and prevent its arrival in other areas of the country. This exceptional measure did not cover pregnant women nor people with a COVID-19 positive test result earlier than 90 days.[22] (The Pfizer vaccine is also effective against the Brazilian variant, according to a study published 8 March in the New England Journal of Medicine.)[23]
During the first two weeks of the vaccination program, 191,480 first doses were administered. Public health expert Luis Jorge Hernández said the distribution was operating under a scarcity mentality given that only 509,724 doses had arrived in Colombia (including the ones already administered), whereas the Health Ministry had expected to have 850,000 by that point.[24]
Opinion polling
Before vaccinations began, a poll conducted from 9 November to 10 December 2020 by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) found that only half of Colombians wanted to be vaccinated against coronavirus. In Quibdó, 72 percent said they wanted the vaccine, but in Cali, only 43 percent wanted it. Among those who said they did not want the vaccine, most said they feared side effects.[25]
Progress
Cumulative vaccinations
Doses administered by department
- As of 15 March 2021[6]
Department | Population (est. 2021)[26] | Doses administered | Percentage covered |
---|---|---|---|
Amazonas | 80,464 | 21,925 | 27.25% |
Antioquia | 6,782,584 | 126,733 | 1.87% |
Arauca | 301,270 | 1,821 | 0.6% |
Atlántico[a] | 2,771,139 | 45,236 | 1.63% |
Bogotá D.C. | 7,834,167 | 193,198 | 2.47% |
Bolívar[b] | 2,213,061 | 31,388 | 1.42% |
Boyacá | 1,251,675 | 28,544 | 2.28% |
Caldas | 1,027,314 | 25,203 | 2.45% |
Caquetá | 414,841 | 4,234 | 1.02% |
Casanare | 439,238 | 5,930 | 1.35% |
Cauca | 1,504,044 | 14,574 | 0.97% |
Cesar | 1,322,466 | 12,416 | 0.94% |
Chocó | 549,225 | 3,347 | 0.61% |
Córdoba | 1,844,076 | 20,904 | 1.13% |
Cundinamarca | 3,372,221 | 63,936 | 1.9% |
Guainía | 51,450 | 7,329 | 14.24% |
Guaviare | 88,490 | 789 | 0.89% |
Huila | 1,131,934 | 12,080 | 1.07% |
La Guajira | 987,781 | 7,443 | 0.75% |
Magdalena[c] | 1,449,087 | 17,442 | 1.2% |
Meta | 1,072,412 | 12,286 | 1.15% |
Nariño | 1,627,386 | 33,276 | 2.04% |
Norte de Santander | 1,642,746 | 18,341 | 1.12% |
Putumayo | 364,085 | 2,379 | 0.65% |
Quindío | 562,177 | 9,762 | 1.74% |
Risaralda | 968,626 | 24,105 | 2.49% |
San Andrés | 64,672 | 583 | 0.9% |
Santander | 2,306,455 | 38,467 | 1.67% |
Sucre | 962,457 | 12,087 | 1.26% |
Tolima | 1,343,898 | 23,220 | 1.73% |
Valle del Cauca[d] | 4,556,752 | 100,982 | 2.22% |
Vaupés | 46,808 | 5,554 | 11.87% |
Vichada | 114,557 | 447 | 0.39% |
Colombia | 51,049,498 | 913,961 | 1.79% |
- ^ Including Barranquilla.
- ^ Including Cartagena.
- ^ Including Santa Marta.
- ^ Including Buenaventura.
References
- ^ "Colombia confirms its first case of coronavirus". Reuters. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "Colombia confirma su primer caso de COVID-19". minsalud.gov.co. Archived from the original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
- ^ "Colombia recibirá vacunas contra covid-19 en febrero". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ "'Colombia está en grupo de elegibles que recibirá vacuna en febrero'". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 20 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ a b "¡Empezó la vacunación! Verónica Machado recibió la primera dosis". El Tiempo. 17 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Informe de actividad de vacunación en Colombia". Ministry of Health of Colombia. 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Colombia firmó acuerdos de confidencialidad para obtener vacuna contra covid-19" (in Spanish). El País. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "Probarán en voluntarios colombianos vacuna experimental para covid-19" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 24 August 2020.
- ^ "En Floridablanca inició aplicación de ensayos de la vacuna covid-19" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ "Johnson & Johnson pausa ensayo de vacuna que prueba en Colombia" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ "Colombia asegura 40 millones de vacunas contra la covid-19". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 19 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ "¿Cuándo podrá vacunarse? Conozca las fases y quiénes tendrán prioridad". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 19 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Gobierno definió fecha de inicio de vacunación y compra de más dosis" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Enfermera de Sincelejo recibirá la primera vacuna en Colombia" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Los detalles de la aprobación de la vacuna de Pfizer en Colombia". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 6 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Llegaron a Colombia las primeras 50.000 dosis de vacunas contra covid-19". Infobae (in Spanish). 15 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ MENAFN. "Colombia declares emergency use of Sinovac vaccines". menafn.com. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Primeras vacunas de Sinovac llegarán el 20 de febrero" (in Spanish). Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Colombia suscribe acuerdo formal para el mecanismo COVAX" (in Spanish). Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "La iniciativa Covax debuta en América Latina con 117.000 vacunas para Colombia" (in Spanish). El País. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Invima autorizó el uso de emergencia de la vacuna de AstraZeneca en Colombia". W Radio (in Spanish). 23 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Enviarán 45.000 vacunas chinas al Amazonas y a la frontera con Brasil". El Tiempo. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- ^ Cunningham, Erin (9 March 2021). "Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine neutralizes Brazil variant in lab study as experts warn of rapid spread". Washington Post. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ "Expertos piden acelerar el Plan Nacional de Vacunación". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 3 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ Unidad de Salud (25 December 2020). "Solo la mitad de los colombianos se pondría la vacuna contra covid-19". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ "PROYECCIONES DE POBLACIÓN A NIVEL DEPARTAMENTAL. PERIODO 2018 - 2050". DANE. Retrieved 8 March 2021.