The government of El Salvador on Sunday night received 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Moderna. They were donated by the United States through the COVAX initiative, the country’s Ministry of Health reported.
“This is the 17th lot that arrives in the country, the sixth through the COVAX global acquisition strategy,” said the Salvadoran Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí, upon receiving the donation at the Óscar Arnulfo Romero airport, 44 km to the southeast of San Salvador.
With the donation from the United States, El Salvador has received “close to two million” vaccines from the COVAX initiative sponsored by the World Health Organization and other countries in order to guarantee access to drugs throughout the world, Alabí said.
The donation of the Moderna lot is part of the commitment of the administration of President Joe Biden to “share the supply of vaccines from the United States with the world,” the US Embassy in San Salvador said in a statement.
Since February, El Salvador has received 5,346,760 doses of vaccines in 17 batches. Nine were directly purchased from different pharmaceutical companies, two were donated from China and Mexico, and the rest came from COVAX.
With a vaccination plan that began last February, El Salvador has managed to inoculate 2.8 million people to date. Its goal is to vaccinate 4.5 of its 6.7 million inhabitants.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, El Salvador has accumulated 79,790 positive cases, with 2,409 deaths.
To date, Costa Rica has received 2.8 million vaccines, including 172,950 through COVAX. Costa Rica is included on the list of countries that will receive vaccine donations from the United States, per the White House.
