Secretary Alonso Pérez Rico announced Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccinations are suspended until further notice due to the lack of vaccines in stock and available for use in the state.
"We are not going to vaccinate. The vaccination date is postponed until 'further notice.' The scenario is that the Federal Government must send us the folios for the release of a vaccine so that it is precisely safe and effective. They haven't sent them. We cannot administer this vaccine until we are sure," the state official explained.
During the daily health broadcast, Pérez Rico indicated that there are more than 32,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine in stock, but they cannot be administered because they lack the health certificates required by the Chinese company.
For his part, the representative of the Federal Government in Baja California, Jesús Alejandro Ruiz Uribe, during a press conference assured that the deadline for administering the second dose of the Sinovac vaccine for adults over 60 years of age has not expired after 42 days have passed. However, the Ministry of Health initially reported that this was the maximum time.
He reiterated that the 31,200 vaccines are available in Baja California, but they cannot be administered because the health certifications have not arrived. They hope that the immunization process for the 30,000 seniors waiting for the dose will begin in the coming days, but there is no date yet.
"Well, that (fake vaccines) hasn't been released anywhere in the world, but it's precisely those Cofepris certificates that have to be validated, and we have to be absolutely responsible for not applying something that's still certified," he asserted.
He explained that he could not specifically address the issue of the expiration date for administering the second dose because that would be the responsibility of the national vaccination commissioner in Baja California, Javier de Jesús Cabral Soto, but said they are on schedule to administer it.
