Uruguay has started vaccination against the coronavirus …

A year after the presidential inauguration of Luis Lacalle Pou, Uruguay launched its deferred vaccination plan against covid-19 on Monday. The doses of the vaccine from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac will be provided this first week to educators, soldiers, police and firefighters, while the vaccinators have already been vaccinated during the weekend. Uruguay is the last country in South America to launch its vaccination campaign. After spending most of 2020 as a role model in the region for its successful handling of the pandemic, the country saw a sharp increase in cases from November.

Starting the mandate almost at the same time as the arrival of the coronavirus in Uruguay was the big test for the coalition government led by Lacalle Pou. The right-wing leader In its frenzied first year, it remained very popular, although it came under heavy criticism for its budget cuts aimed at slashing public spending, rising unemployment and the controversial Urgent Considerations Act (LUC).

From 8 a.m.On Monday, 90 vaccination centers across the country opened to vaccinate some 140,000 workers considered essential, almost a year after the appearance of the first cases of coronavirus in the country. “Today we have a fundamental letter to face this scourge and that is to have the necessary amount of vaccines already committed to achieve immunity that reaches all over 18s in the country, “said the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas, during a press conference.

After standing out as the country in the region that managed the best management of the pandemic for nine months during which there was real case control, Uruguay was the last country on the continent to start vaccinating against covid-19. However, the country’s small population (around 3.5 million) suggests that by mid-this year the majority of Uruguayans could already be vaccinated.

As announced by President Lacalle Pou, Uruguay has acquired 3.8 million doses between Pfizer and Sinovac laboratories and has reserved 1.5 million additional doses of AstraZeneca through the Covax platform, created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for distribution among the least advantaged countries. Minister Salinas said 47,118 people were already due to be vaccinated between Monday and Wednesday.

Vaccination is not compulsory, but the authorities insist that it is an act of solidarity. “Collective consciousness is very important, the same that differentiated us in the world so as not to “ lock down ” (…) The same that allowed us to dominate the exponential growth that was insinuated in December or January, and that now we are in bouncing back, because also it must be said “, he said Salinas.

Although Uruguay has not declared any mandatory quarantines at any time during the pandemic based on its “responsible liberty” policy, the country’s economy has been hit hard in 2020. As indicated a few days ago by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche, the South American country would have a drop of 4.5% of its GDP last year.

However, the portfolio owner stressed that “the worst would have been left behind” as economic indicators appear to be picking up. This was stated during the presentation of Uruguay’s Balance and Macroeconomic Outlook, in which he also announced that a 3.5% increase in GDP is expected in 2021, a figure lower than that estimated in the 2020 budget, because “it was not expected” that the pandemic will continue this year.

During the first year in office, the right-wing coalition government obtained the approval of the LUC, a package of more than 400 items that was the flagship of the campaign of the current president of the National Party. But both the broad forehead, which considers that a state reduction model is applied in the country, As the only union of workers of the PIT-CNT, they are working on a referendum to repeal 135 articles of this law approved by the Uruguayan Congress on July 8..

The LUC regulates the right to strike, gives more power to repressive forces and criminalizes social protest. It also opens the door to the privatization of public enterprises and promotes a series of tax laws that favor the private sector. These sensible reforms were approved as unemployment rose in the country, a fact that may augur a greater social conflict. The National Statistics Institute of Uruguay reported that Unemployment fell from 8.5% in January 2020 to 11.2% in October, although it fell to 10.5% last December.

After securing 29% of the vote in the 2019 presidential elections, the National Party joined four other political forces with which it formed the so-called “multicolored coalition”. and with which he signed a document entitled Commitment for the country in which they established their strategic lines. In this way, they managed to capture 50.79% of the votes which led the right-wing alliance to victory in the second round over the official candidate of the time, the broad frontist Daniel Martínez.

Currently in the executive, there are eight ministers led by the National Party, three by the Colorado Party, two by the Open Council, and one by the Independent Party. However, The 2024 elections strongly suggest that this could be the last year the coalition remains united before each of its members run for the next government.