Colombia gets first shipment of coronavirus vaccines

Colombia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines on Monday and will soon begin to vaccinate its population of 50 million people, the third-largest in Latin America.

Colombia's government says it is aiming to vaccinate 35 million people this year including hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants and refugees.

On Monday a yellow DHL plane carrying Colombia's first 50,000 vaccines arrived at Bogota's international airport and was welcomed by President Ivan Duque and his health minister.

The shots were supplied by Pfizer, which has signed an agreement to sell 10 million vaccines to Colombia.

"We all walk forward with the "V" of vaccines, with the "V" of victory," said Duque from a podium set up on the airport's runway.

Colombia will be one of the last countries in Latin America to start vaccination.

Neighboring countries like Ecuador and Panama began inoculating their populations in January while Chile has already vaccinated one million people.

Duque had come under criticism for not having vaccines shipped to the country sooner, but said that he preferred to start rolling out the shots when Colombia could secure a steady supply.

Government officials say more than 1.6 million vaccines will be arriving in the coming month.

The government is aiming to provide one million coronavirus shots during the first 30 days of its vaccination campaign.

(Image Credit: AP)