The COVID-19 vaccination program in Colombia is an ongoing effort of mass immunization put in place by the Colombian government in order to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus causing COVID-19 was confirmed to have reached Colombia on 6 March 2020. Colombia's preparation and readiness for a vaccine program allowed it to join the first group of countries who received vaccines through COVAX. The first vaccine in Colombia was given to a nurse on 17 February 2021.
Over 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. As of 16 August 2022, 36,027,994 people have received their first dose of a two-dose vaccine and 29,883,374 of them also received the second dose, while 6,624,372 people have been vaccinated with single-dose vaccines, for a total of 36,507,746 fully vaccinated people. In addition to this, 13,731,703 people have received first booster doses and 1,470,593 people received a second booster dose for a total of 87,738,036 vaccine doses administered across the country.
Background
Purchase agreements
On 28 July 2020, Health Minister Fernando Ruiz stated in an interview with W Radio that Colombia had signed confidentiality agreements with two pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, for the acquisition of a vaccine for COVID-19, and that the country would seek agreements with at least three other companies.
Clinical trials
On 24 August, Minister Ruiz confirmed the participation of Colombian volunteers in the Phase III trials of the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine, developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The clinical trials were scheduled to take place within weeks, once the report on the previous stages of the vaccine was available. Ruiz added that a confidentiality agreement had already been signed. On 7 October, the Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica began, with the application of the first dose to a volunteer in Floridablanca. The trials of this vaccine were being carried out in 10 medical centers throughout the country. On 12 October, Johnson & Johnson announced it would briefly pause the trials after one volunteer became ill with "an unexplained disease".
Vaccination schedule
After the Colombian government was promised 40 million doses from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, on 18 December 2020 the government announced a schedule for the vaccination program. Mass vaccination began in February 2021 and was divided into five stages with the goal of achieving herd immunity. In the first phase, the objective was reducing mortality and severe case incidence rates from COVID-19, as well as protecting health workers. The second phase was aimed at reducing infection rates. When the vaccination plan was announced, the government expected to vaccinate roughly 70% of the Colombian population, or 35.7 million people. Initially, people who had already had the disease were not to be vaccinated, nor would children under 16 as vaccines had not been tested on that age group.
On 29 January 2021, President Iván Duque signed the decree for the National Plan of Vaccination which had been announced in December as the country's guideline for mass vaccination, and he announced that vaccinations in Colombia would begin on 20 February 2021.
In an interview published 11 April 2021, Minister Ruiz said that progress was being made with the vaccination of people in their 70s. At that time, the goal was to vaccinate adults with comorbidities by mid-year and begin Phase 2 in the second half of 2021. Vaccination of people over 65 began on 13 April, and the minimum age was lowered to 60 on 30 April.
Originally, Stage 3 was to include people aged 16–59 with comorbidities, while those in that age group who did not have comorbidities were to wait until Stage 5. On 3 May 2021, it was announced that everyone in their 50s, with or without comorbidities, would become eligible in Stage 3. On 8 May 2021, the Colombian government issued the Decree 466 with the new adjustments to the country's vaccination plan. Workers of health care companies (EPS) and those who work in control bodies and different organizations that assist, accompany and validate the process of management of the pandemic were prioritized in Stage 2, while people with additional comorbidities such as AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis, obesity and others were included in Stage 3 along with the population aged 50–59. Furthermore, Stage 4 was updated to include people aged 40–49, members of relief corps, inmates and those in permanent contact with them, as well as street dwellers, while Stage 5 will now only include the population aged 16–39 without comorbidities.