The Cabinet Council authorized the Ministry of Health to negotiate and contract with the Moderna-Comercial company, the acquisition of 380,000 doses of pediatric vaccine against Covid-19 for minors between 6 months and 5 years of age. The purchase would cost 5 million 35 thousand dollars.
Dr. Eduardo Ortega Barría, National Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt), pointed out that with Moderna, the child requires only two doses and can be considered fully immunized two weeks after the last dose, while to achieve that immunity with the from Pfizer, three doses are required.
Ortega highlighted that two doses of Moderna versus three of Pfizer may represent lower cost, it does not require dilution and its refrigeration temperature for storage is lower than that of Pfizer (-20°C vs. -80°C).
He indicated that the greater number of secondary effects due to the Moderna vaccine, mostly transient, may be due to the higher concentration of the dose; however, since one less dose is required, the total number of side effects is similar.
The council of ministers also approved extending until December the exemption from the payment of tariffs on a series of products such as detergents, masks, among others, which are used to fight Covid-19. The tax sacrifice since the pandemic began in these areas has been $26,762,687.
