COVID-19 vaccination: Minsa announces an uninterrupted 36-hour day

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) announced that this Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April will be held a day of 36 hours uninterrupted COVID-19 vaccination in Metropolitan Lima and Callao, and 12 hours in regions.

According to Minsa's Executive Director of Immunizations, María Elena Martínez, within the framework of Peruvian Children's Day, vaccination will focus especially on children aged 5 to 11 to attend for their first and second doses. That is why it was called “Warma Vaccine”.

“For the third consecutive weekend we continue to intensify vaccination with an uninterrupted 36-hour day in Metropolitan Lima and Callao, and 12 hours in regions, the goal is to continue closing vaccination gaps especially in our children, who need two doses to be protected,” he told TV Peru.

“Vaccines are safe and effective, so vaccination is for the whole family, grandparents can go for their fourth dose, parents for their third, and children for their second, we are waiting for them all with entertaining and fun shows,” he added.

These are the vaccination centers that will attend 36 consecutive hours in Metropolitan Lima and Callao:

“We invite you to these 36 hours again and our 20 points that we have in Lima and also in the provinces have activated some vaccination points during extended hours,” said Alexis Holguín, director general of Strategic Public Health Interventions of Minsa.

The third dose will be given for those over 12 years of age and the fourth dose for those over 70 years of age.

Holguín said that the goal for this day is to vaccinate 400,000 people. In addition, he recalled that not only is vaccination carried out at fixed points, but also house to house and in sweeps.

In the same way, some draws are taking place at the vaccination points, to make the experience more playful.

FOURTH DOSE FOR OVER 70 YEARS OLD

Minsa has ordered that from Saturday, April 2, the application of the fourth dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 in people over 70 years of age and with immunocompromise in Lima and Callao will begin.

This provision was announced by Alexis Holguín, who clarified that the application of the fourth dose, to this age group as well as to health personnel, will take place nationally from Monday, April 4 or Tuesday, April 5.

“Tomorrow (Saturday, April 2) we start vaccination for people over 70 years old and also for people with immunosuppressants, in what is Lima and Callao. And between Monday (4) and Tuesday (April 5) it continues with what is at the country level, as well as health personnel with a fourth dose,” he noted.

People over 70 years of age and with immunocompromise must have received the third dose more than 5 months ago in order to be inoculated with the fourth dose of vaccine against COVID-19.

Holguín also explained that the protocol approved by Minsa indicates that this fourth dose is applied with the vaccine of the Pfizer or Moderna laboratories, since they are the laboratories that have proven to be the safest and most effective in the studies.

Finally, he reported that Peru has a large batch of doses of Moderna's vaccine that has just arrived in Peru, and that they have a long validity period. “By timeline we already have to vaccinate (with the fourth dose of the vaccine against covid-19) older adults,” he said.