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The announcement has not prevented the Colombian government from being strongly criticized for its inefficiency in managing the pandemic.
Colombia's President Ivan Duque on Monday informed that the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 will start on Feb. 17.
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The announcement came after the arrival of the first vaccine batch from Belgium, as confirmed by Health Minister Fernando Ruiz Gomez, who had pointed out Feb. 18 as the possible zero-day.
This first batch contains 50,000 Pfizer vaccine doses that will be applied in the Sincelejo, Monteria, Bogota, and Medellin departments.
"We wanted to do this in an orderly and comprehensive way," Ruiz said and added that to ensure freezers for vaccine transportation is a demanding effort.
.@CubaMINREX: we reiterate our concerns over non-compliance and unilateral attempts to modify the Peace Agreements signed w/ FARC-EP, as well as the increasing number of murders and massacres of ex-guerrilla members, social leaders and human rights defenders in #Colombia. pic.twitter.com/J9n0snXqyo
— CUBAONU (@CUBAONU) February 14, 2021
Colombia will receive over 1.65 million vaccines in the next 30 days. By the end of the year, over 35.7 million Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines are also expected to arrive.
So far, however, those promises have not prevented the Duque administration from being strongly criticized for its inefficiency in managing the pandemic.
With a population of almost 50 million inhabitants, as of Tuesday, the country reports over 2.19 COVID-19 cases and 57,605 related deaths.
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