How Ecuador managed to become one of the countries with the most doses of COVID-19 vaccines per day

At the beginning of 2020, Ecuador occupied the front page of the world for the health collapse of Guayaquil. The government of then-President Lenín Moreno delivered cardboard coffins from house to house to speed up the funeral, and desperate relatives stormed hospital doors for help. Today, a year and a half later, and with a new president, Ecuador has become a model of successful vaccination in the region, And in the world. According to the archives of Our World in Data, the president Guillermo Lasso made his country the second in the world in the number of doses applied per day, with 1.44 per 100 people.

Andean country It outshines all others in the region like Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina, and to countries like the United States and the entire European Union.

(This graph shows the number of daily doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered per 100 people, by country. The 7-day moving average is shown per 100 people in the total population. For vaccines that require multiple doses, each individual dose is counted. Ecuador, is the second best located)

The promise of the new Ecuadorian government was to immunize 9 million people – half of the country’s population – in just 100 days until early September. If you continue with the vaccination rate of more than 150,000 people per day, you will have no problem reaching the goal.

“All possible vaccines were purchased at the same time very quickly. It is not that vaccines can be bought on the left or on the right ”, revealed Jaime Durán Barba, Advisor to Lasso during the campaign that brought him to the presidency.

Yes indeed, so far the 56.4% of the population of Ecuador, a country of more than 17 million inhabitants, is vaccinated with a single dose, the 33.5% with two, and in August, hospital bed occupancy was reduced by 40 points nationally.

On average, in Ecuador, 27% of people aged 16 to 49, 52% of individuals in the 50 to 64 age group, and 82% of people 65 and over were vaccinated with the full regimen.

Our World in Data charts also show how at the beginning of June – a few days after Lasso took office (5/24) – the applied dose curve started to increase exponentially.

(This graph shows that 56.4% of Ecuador’s total population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.)

The figures also reveal that the coronavirus death rate has reached its lowest point since the start of the pandemic, with 61 deaths on August 18, 2021, against 1,134 deaths recorded in April 2020, according to figures from the Directorate General of Civil Status, Identification and Identification.

How do we do it? According to the World Bank, two reasons underlie the evident greater availability of vaccines obtained through successful government management and efficient distribution.

“First, the titanic effort of planning and logistics, which included careful coordination between central and regional governments, the private sector, universities and other international organizations, with particular emphasis on the fundamental role of private companies in providing their advice and logistical resources.Explained Marcelo Bortman, physician and epidemiologist at the World Bank, and Aakash Mohpal, senior economist in the agency’s Global Health, Nutrition and Population Practice.

The Minister of Production, Julio José Prado, underlined the alliance between the public and private sectors and defined it as “the most important in the history of Ecuador”. In addition, the Minister explained that the contribution of companies is made in several ways: “There are companies that have provided their facilities, that donate syringes, supplies, etc. and others. And that we do indeed manage to be, today, one of the countries in the world with the highest rate of vaccination growth ”.

This effort resulted in a well-structured campaign with segmented “immunization days” for private and public sector workers, students and the general public. “In addition, there were special days to immunize hard-to-reach groups, such as indigenous, rural and migrant populations,” WB experts detail, adding that innovation has also played an important role: “The recently updated voter register for general elections and polling stations were used to reach and vaccinate Ecuadorians”.

(The graph shows the percentage of the total population that has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in South American countries. Ecuador has 33.5% of your total population with a full schedule, only exceeded by the Chile and Uruguay)

As a second reason for success, they stand out the exceptional teamwork of development organizations with the Lasso government, who decisively led these efforts. “This resulted in close and unprecedented collaboration between the World Bank, IDB, CAF, PAHO, WHO, UNICEF and other United Nations agencies, which allowed us to share our vast joint experience in vaccination with the Ecuadorian government”.

In addition, they point out that the efficiency and speed of this process generated the confidence of the population, which, in turn, plays an important role in boosting the economy.

“Nothing would have gone so well without a seamless political transition between incoming and outgoing governments, which has reduced the slowing effect that changes in command usually produce.”they warn.

Andean country uses doses from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac to achieve the goal and in recent days also began to use the vaccine developed by the Chinese company CanSino Biologics Inc. single dose in hard-to-reach areas and for the prison population.

In the presence of the Delta variant, the Ministry of Health decided that, from August 2 until the end of this month, only the second doses will be applied vaccine. The goal, the Lasso government announced, is to improve the immune response. Then, Between September 1 and 5, vaccination of the population between 12 and 15 years old will begin, and vaccination of people over 16 who have not entered the previous phase will continue.

In addition, the Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, announced a few days ago that A third dose will be applied to people with a certain type of immunodeficiency and tests will be done to determine if the rest of the vaccinated population needs a booster.

“Lasso very recently assumed the presidency of Ecuador. He said that in 100 days he will immunize the vast majority of the population, and he is succeeding. Just use your common sense. It is not that vaccines are bought on the left or on the right. Vaccines are not. All possible vaccines have been purchased at the same time at high speed and hundreds of thousands of people are vaccinated every week“, He celebrated in statements to Profile the consultant Duran Barba, one of the men who knows the Ecuadorian president best.

Such is the success that the World Bank invites other countries in the region to replicate the formula.

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