Eight Latin American countries have started vaccinating against the coronavirus – Telam

Only eight Latin American countries have started to vaccinate their populations against the coronavirus and Argentina is one of the regions that applied the most doses.

The following is a detail of the progress made by countries in the region in their immunization plans, at a time when the problems of many countries’ access to laboratory supplies are being debated around the world:

Mexico

It was the first Latin American country to start immunizing its more than 90 million inhabitants. It has purchase agreements for 34.4 million doses from Pfizer, 77.4 million from AstraZeneca, 35 million from CanSino, 24 million from Sputnik and 34.4 million from the Covax mechanism.

So far he has received 766,254 doses of Pfizer and has already administered 657,842. The next major shipment is scheduled for February 10.

Argentina

ANMAT has approved the AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sputnik V vaccines. On December 29, the vaccination campaign began with the Russian drug, which has already been applied to more than 270,000 people, of whom nearly 46,000 have already received the second dose.

A total of 820,000 doses of the drug has already arrived in the country and delivery is expected to accelerate in February, until it reaches between 20 and 25 million doses. At the same time, the government has reached an agreement with the AstraZeneca laboratory to purchase 22.4 million doses in March, which will cover 11 million Argentines.

Chile

He started the vaccination plan on December 24. So far, they have inoculated nearly 57,000 people with the first dose of Pfizer and just over 10,000 with the second. Last Thursday, they received 2 million doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

They signed contracts to purchase a total of 84 million (10 million from Pfizer, 14 million from AstraZeneca and 60 million from Sinovac) to vaccinate their 19 million people.

Brazil

The vaccination began on January 17. 685,000 Brazilians have already been inoculated with the first dose of Sinovac, which will begin manufacturing in the country in February.

It has 6 million of the first dose and 4.8 million of the second of Sinovac, pending the arrival of 2 million additional doses (out of a total of 100 million) from the British AstraZeneca, produced in India.

Ecuador

Vaccination began January 21 in Quito and Guayaquil, the cities hardest hit by the pandemic, with Pfizer. The first shipment has arrived with 8,000 doses intended for health workers and it is expected that new shipments will arrive every week, until the 86,000 planned for this first pilot phase are covered.

From March, 2 million more doses are expected to arrive gradually. Meanwhile, the government continues to negotiate the purchase of 5 million doses of vaccine with AstraZeneca – which has already been licensed for use in the country – and has its share of the multilateral Covax system.

Panama

On January 20, he received 12,840 of the 40,000 doses of Pfizer promised for the first shipment. The first to receive a dose were health professionals from Santo Tomás Hospital in Panama. Then the drug began to be distributed among the various departments of the country of 4.2 million inhabitants. The country expects a total of 3 million doses of Pfizer and 1 million AstraZeneca.

Costa Rica

He began vaccinating on December 24, after receiving a first batch of nearly 10,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine. The Central American country made an agreement to acquire 3 million doses with the United States at the same time as it signed agreements with Covax and AstraZeneca for half a million doses of each.

Bolivia

He began vaccinating his health workers on Friday after receiving the first 20,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which are part of the 5.2 million doses agreed with Moscow. In addition, it has signed an agreement for 5 million doses with British laboratory AstraZeneca, which will start arriving in April, and will access an additional 2 million through Covax. The first million doses provided by the Covax system will arrive in February, Bolivian President Luis Arce announced this afternoon.
The first 20,000 doses arrived in La Paz after a transfer to Buenos Aires, transported from Moscow by an Aerolineas Argentinas plane.

Uruguay

Authorities announced on January 23 the purchase of nearly 3.8 million doses from Pfizer and Sinovac laboratories, as well as a reserve of 1.5 million doses from the Covax fund, and are negotiating with Russia for the acquisition of the vaccine. Sputnik V.

Peru

The government has agreed to buy 38 million doses of vaccines with the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm, the first million will arrive on February 9. In addition, he has agreed to buy 14 million doses of AstraZeneca, which will arrive in September, and 13 million Covax for the second half of the year.

The Savior

The government has signaled an agreement with AstraZeneca for the purchase of 2 million doses, still without an arrival date.

Honduras

The authorities plan to purchase 9.4 million doses with which they hope to vaccinate 81% of their population. Vaccines will arrive in March through the Covax mechanism and through purchase through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Vaccine Revolving Fund.

Paraguay:

The Ministry of Health has announced agreements to buy 3 million doses, without specifying from which laboratories, which will arrive in February. In addition, they expect to receive an additional 4.3 million doses via Covax, which has not set a date although it has announced that they will arrive before May.

Colombia

Authorities produced a card to vaccinate 29 million people in 15 months starting in February. The country has signed agreements with Pfizer and AstraZeneca for 10 million doses each, and has also agreed to purchase 9 million single-dose vaccines with Janssen. In addition, he will receive 20 million via Covax.

Venezuela

Authorities plan to start vaccination in the first half of the year. They signed an agreement with Russia for the supply of 10 million doses of Sputnik V and have not been able to make any other deals due to US sanctions.

Guatemala

Authorities are awaiting the arrival of a first batch of vaccines via Covax in March. PAHO has not yet defined the number of doses. The health minister said it would not be a large amount, but “sufficient” to protect Guatemalan health workers.

Dominican Republic

The regulator has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine and said it will start vaccinating in March.

Cuba

It is making progress in the development of its own vaccine, Sovereign 02, which is in phase 3 of a clinical trial and hopes to start applying it in the first half of 2021. It is preparing to produce 100 million doses.

Nicaragua

The Central American country has not reported concrete vaccination plans, beyond suggesting it could acquire Sputnik V units.