Mujica asked Lacalle Pou: “We are going to be the last …

Former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica has expressed unease over the slowness in purchasing coronavirus vaccines for the country. In his program “Hablando al sur” broadcast on radio M24, Mujica regretted that Uruguay appeared as “The last country in South America” to vaccinate its population when it had “certain and repeated possibilities” to do so before. In 2020, the country was taken as an example in the region for its good handling of the pandemic, although the start of the new year has resulted in a record number of daily infections and deaths.

For the former senator, the vaccine is “the great hope” of achieving “what they call the defense of the herd, a collective immunity which makes infection impossible”. However, until the doses arrive and the vaccination plan begins, “the only tools are masks and social distancing.” On January 23, President Luis Lacalle Pou announced the purchase of nearly 3.8 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer and Sinovac laboratories, and he expects vaccination to begin only between late February and early March.

“These days some media have reported that in the first quarter of this year most people would be vaccinated, and I think the train we go no matter how many statements they make, it will be difficult for the hissing pig. I hope I am wrong, and if I am wrong I applaud, because there is nothing we need other than the vaccine, ”said Mujica, measured in tone although angry at the delay in the start of the vaccination campaign against covid-19.

The Leader The Frente Amplio added that the lack of vaccines is caused by the general urgency to get them, although other factors also influence. “The demand is huge and covers the entire globe and cannot be resolved in a matter of days. the rich world has monopolized with its premature purchases a good part of the vaccines which leave its laboratories, sometimes well above its needs, as if to say ‘in case’ “said Mujica, who does not believe that the vaccination deadlines set by the Uruguayan government will be met.

In another section of its radial space, Mujica criticized President Lacalle Pou, whom he accused of turning his back on the opposition and even members of the ruling coalition itself faced with a situation he described as a “national cause”. He assured that if “we say that government partners feel unbalanced with fundamental decisions and that there are ministers who learn certain things in the newspapers, what can be expected from the government’s attitude towards the opposition.

Faced with a complex scenario, Mujica explained that “We fall asleep, we trust each other, we delay and we will certainly be the last country in South America to start immunizing.”. In this sense, he regrets that Uruguay has “certain and repeated possibilities, but we have closed ourselves against prejudices or illusions”, and He gave the example of Bolivia, which “is there to vaccinate as we could do it ourselves”.

Lacalle Pou has announced the purchase of 3.75 million vaccines with which he hopes to vaccinate 2.8 million people. It is estimated that the first shipments from the laboratories will arrive in late February and early March, when Uruguay will begin its vaccination plan.

Uruguay, previously praised for its good performance in the face of the pandemic, It is late for the start of its vaccination plan, since countries like Argentina, Mexico and Chile, which had 876,714 people vaccinated on February 9, began their campaigns at the end of December. Brazil began vaccinating on January 18 after several comings and goings by President Jair Bolsonaro, while Ecuador did so on January 21 and Bolivia on the 29th of the month. Peru, for its part, began the vaccination process on Tuesday.