Lasso’s plan to vaccinate 9 million Ecuadorians in 100 days has begun: what the 4 phases will look like

This Monday, the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, accompanied by the Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, and other government officials, launched the 9-100 Plan, with which he plans to vaccinate 9 million Ecuadorians against COVID-19 in 100 days. The ambitious vaccination plan will benefit from logistical support from the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE).

The plan started with a first stumble: teachers who were summoned to Quito to receive the second dose, local journalists reported, were not vaccinated. The reason, they reported, would be the lack of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In addition, the teachers were reportedly expelled from the vaccination point by the municipal police.

Faced with the above, Minister Garzón, when launching the plan, apologized to the teachers for the failures presented in the process and said there was a lack of coordination. In addition, he indicated that the health personnel of the public system will take a break and will be replaced by personnel of private organizations.

The success of the vaccination plan will depend on the arrival of doses in the country, as President Guillermo Lasso explains: “All this logistical effort will be crowned with success as long as we have vaccines”. Last weekend, 700,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived in the country, 500,000 awaiting prior agreements with the previous government and 200,000 donated for their victory in the last presidential elections.

Lasso assured to have taken steps with Russia, China and the United States to manage more doses. Russia has reportedly requested 18 million doses of Sputnik vaccine. For its part, China has pledged to speed up the supply of Sinovac or CanSino vaccines.

Regarding the United States, Lasso said that this government has announced its intention to donate 80 million doses of vaccine to the world, so it is expected to know how much Ecuador will receive.

“We will find a way to make it easier to negotiate vaccine doses with private money, which would mean speeding up the process of purchasing vaccine doses. Donate vaccines, donate vaccines, you can do it, ”said Lasso, urging the private sector to donate vaccines to the health ministry.

Vaccination phases and CNE support

As indicated by the Ministry of Health, vaccination will four phases divided by age and priority groups. The schedule marks the start date of May 31 and ends on September 5.

The first phase is called “We save lives ” and aims to “reduce severe morbidity and specific mortality due to COVID-19”. It started this Monday and will run until June 15. In this first step, the people over 65, people aged 50 to 64, with serious illnesses, disabilities and chronic illnesses. Health workers and people who work or live in conditions at high risk of contagion will also be immunized.

To mitigate the social impact, there is the second phase “We take care of ourselves “. It will last a month, from June 15 to July 15. At this point, people aged 50 to 64, people aged 16 to 49 with serious illnesses, disability and chronic illnesses, as well as people working in strategic sectors will be vaccinated.

The third phase “Less contagion” plans to reduce the transmission of the virus in the community. It will start from July 15 to August 30. During this period, people aged 16 to 49 and the mobile population will be vaccinated.

Finally, the phase “We reactivate “ it will serve to mitigate the social and economic impact. It will only last five days, from September 1 to 5. During this period, the vaccine will be applied to people behind schedule compared to previous phases.

The CNE enabled 372 of the 4000 polling stations in Ecuador to serve as fixed vaccination points.

In addition, the CNE has activated the link lugardevacunacion.cne.gob.ec so that citizens can consult their date and place of vaccination for the two doses. For those who do not have an Internet connection, the Ministry of Health has set up the consultation hotline 171.

Pharmacies and supermarkets will also be information points to find out about the vaccination appointment.

Migrants, the health ministry said, who have not legalized their immigration status will be registered with UNHCR support and will be vaccinated during phase 3 of the program. On the other hand, people belonging to the priority group, those over 65, can walk to the vaccination points without an appointment on weekends.

The vaccination centers will be present from Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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