Bogotá’s vaccination roll-out is heading to three of the city’s largest public markets – Paloquemao, Las Ferias, Corabastos – to help workers begin their vaccinations schemes. The campaign launched Wednesday at the central food market Paloquemao where several hundred merchants got their first jab in the arm. The next appointment is Friday at Las Ferias, and over the weekend, at all three locations.
The district’s health secretariat Alejandro Gómez stated that those who have already received the first dose of Pfizer will be able to get their second dose after a recommended 21 days. The Ministry of Health has also set up temporary vaccination points in other public markets across the country as distributors tend to work hours that make it difficult for them to reach health facilities. The inoculation campaign comes as Bogotá, on Wednesday, added 113 cases of coronavirus from the day’s 1,256 total. And despite the fact that the Colombian capital had remained at the epicenter of the virus since a first case of the disease was detected on March 6, 2020, the city now trails the departments of Antioquia and Valle in per-day cases, which added 339 and 155 cases on Wednesday, respectively.
Bogotá’s total case count stands at 1,451.840.
Mayor Claudia López confirmed that the national government will hand-over additional shipments of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week to meet demand for second doses. According to the Mayor, 77% of the capital’s eight million residents have received one dose of the Covid vaccine, and 56% are fully vaccinated. “With 70% of residents fully vaccinated we’ll be able to return to 100% agglomerations, end the year with better self-protection measures, employment and security,” stated López on Twitter.
With 4,975.656 infections and death toll that has claimed 126,726 lives (including Wednesday’s 34 victims), Colombia needs to maintain daily vaccinations rates above 300,000 to reach a target of 36 million inhabitants (age 12 or older) with fully completed schemes by the end of 2021. The 36-million eligible vaccinate population represents 70% of the country’s population. Over eight months since the start of the National Vaccination Plan more than 43 million coronavirus doses have been administered, and 18.8 million citizens are fully vaccinated.
