Costa Rica this week will receive 500,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech and donated by the United States government, authorities said.
“We are pleased to confirm the donation of half a million vaccines against Covid-19 of high efficacy from the United States government,” said Agustín Castro, Minister of Communication.
“This will permit us to accelerate, during July, the vaccine process, which is important to protect health and lives, as well as to boost economic activity.”
While authorities haven’t shared the precise delivery date, Castro said the doses will arrive to Costa Rica “in the coming days.”
“This culminates weeks of very intense work and coordination between the diplomatic team and their U.S. counterparts,” Castro said.
Gloria Berbena, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, first announced the donation on Friday evening.
To date, Costa Rica has received 2,847,435 vaccine doses and administered 2.5 million of them. This means the 500,000 U.S.-donated vaccines represent about 20% of the total doses Costa Rica has administered over more than six months.
Accelerating the vaccine process among at-risk adults could allow Costa Rica meet its goal of expanding access to all teenagers and adults by the end of July.
