MINSA (Ministry of Health) will not give a second dose of COVID Vaccine here to those who received the first dose abroad (of a two dose vaccination). Both Doses of the Vaccine must be administered in Nicaragua.
Martha Reyes, the Minister of Health announced on TV that the vaccination schedule must be completed in the country where the first dose was received.
Reyes explained that Nicaragua has established a computerized registration system that is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) which tracks the type of vaccine, the particular batch numbers as well as when and where it was administered.
Reyes added that patients will be in the Nicaraguan system from the time they received their first vaccination here in Nicaragua and therefore cannot receive a second dose if the first dose was not administered here.
The head of the Ministry of Health commented that patient security is paramount and there will be no second doses administered in Nicaragua if the first dose was given aboard. She said that the Nicaragua system monitors batches of vaccines and that is useful in cases where adverse reactions are experienced by patients.
Reyes noted that this is different issue from people who have received both doses abroad and complied with the system established in that country.
Other News; Vaccine Mix and Match
Despite concerns from the World Health Organization (WHO), other countries are studying the effectiveness of combinations of vaccines with interesting results. The WHO warns that there was “little data about the health impact” on combination doses of the vaccine.
NOTE: For the Insurance Exemption, Costa Rica accepts “Combinations of Vaccine Brands” (as long as they are both on the list of approved brands.)
Russia reports that a small-scale clinical study of patients vaccinated with AstraZeneca and their own Sputnik Light vaccine showed a “strong antibody growth” in the majority of the people that took part in the study.
From September, Germany will offer booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to those who are deemed vulnerable (pensioners and people with weak immune systems) regardless of the type of vaccine they had for the first or second shots.
