Austria’s donation of 50,000 Covid-19 vaccines arrived Saturday night to Costa Rica, the government announced. With the shipment, Costa Rica has surpassed 6.5 million total doses received.
The gift came after President Carlos Alvarado met with his counterpart, Alexander Van Der Belle, while both were at the United Nations in New York last month.
“Our deep thanks to Austria and President Alexander Van Der Bellen. Vaccination is advancing rapidly in Costa Rica thanks to impulses like this, offered to us today by the Government of Austria, and the contracts negotiated by our country. We will continue to work tirelessly to guarantee the immunity of the population,” said President Alvarado.
In September, Costa Rica received and administered more Covid-19 vaccines than in any previous month, according to official figures. Nearly 5.6 million doses have been administered as of the latest official tallies.
The gift from Austria represents the fourth batch of Covid-19 vaccine donations received by Costa Rica. In July, the United States government gifted 500,000 Pfizer/BioNTech doses, a shipment which helped the country launch mass-vaccination campaigns and expand vaccine access to nearly all adults.
The governments of Canada (319,200) and Spain (69,600) have also donated vaccines, for a total of 941,900 donated doses.
