Colombia Health Minister Fernando Ruiz announced last night (January 14) that another 71,473 vaccination specialists soon will join the existing 7,000 nationally qualified Covid-19 vaccinators via a new training program that starts today.

The “Management of Vaccination Against Covid-19 in Colombia” course now underway with Colombia's SENA training institute includes more than 42,000 nursing assistants, 13,000 registered nurses, 6,800 doctors, 3,500 dentists, 3,500 public health workers and 2,200 bacteriologists.

Of the 71,473 new trainees, Antioquia accounts for 8,637, according to the Ministry.

Course materials cover basic information on Covid-19 infection, technical and operational guidelines for vaccination, preserving the ultra-cold-temperature-storage chain, an “open bottle policy”on how to handle vials of vaccines, patient monitoring and data-information systems for correct registration of those receiving vaccines.

By end-January, yet another batch of trainees will enter the national program. For that upcoming session, “we will be inviting other professional health workers with a whole contingent that is working with us throughout the year, and with the territorial entities, the EPS [health insurance networks] and IPS [hospitals and clinics], in vaccination programs,” Ruiz added.