The small group of countries that have started to vaccinate against the coronavirus – Telam

Argentina is among the small group of countries that have started vaccinating against the coronavirus

Russia, the first to start mass vaccination, on December 5 began distributing Sputnik V among health workers, social workers and teachers, developed by the National Research Center in Gamaleya and that on August 11 is became the world’s first officially registered Covid-19 vaccine.

To date, the Russian Ministry of Health has authorized the use of this vaccine and EpiVacCorona, from the Vector Center, while a third drug, created by the Chumakov Center, is in the clinical trial phase and, according to forecasts, will be recorded in February 2021.

Three days later and with more publicity in the West, the United Kingdom launched its inoculation campaign, in this case with the vaccine developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer in collaboration with the German BioNTech.

The image of Briton Margaret Keenan, 90, receiving the injection at Coventry University Hospital has traveled the world, as has the color data of the name of the second patient to be vaccinated: William Shakeaspeare.

The UK government estimates that more than 520,000 people have already been vaccinated, of whom nearly 370,000 are over 80 years old, and that the first of them are starting to receive the second dose which supplements the vaccination, the news agency reported Europa Press. .

Several EU countries have started vaccination

The country with the most vaccines applied by far is the United States, also the most affected by the pandemic, with more than 2,127,000 doses already administered and a total of 11,445,000 distributed nationwide, according to statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Despite this, health officials have admitted the figures are 10 times lower than expected, as they estimate to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of December.

The United States approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna laboratories and launched the campaign on December 14, with a priority for health workers and residents of nursing homes.

China is second in number of doses administered with more than a million of those developed by local pharmaceutical companies Sinopharm and Sinovac, according to a tally by the Bloomberg news agency, although data provided by the government is not not frequently updated.

Beijing’s goal is to be able to vaccinate some 50 million people before mid-February, coinciding with the dates of the Lunar New Year, a season at high risk for the spread of disease due to the massive displacements it causes and which in 2003 contributed to the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

For its part, Canada has amassed enough doses to immunize each of its inhabitants five times and, in the face of criticism, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “If we have more than we need, we will share them with the world.”

The country began its campaign on December 11, after approving the use of Pfizer-BioNTech and administering just over 52,000 doses to date.

The European Union (EU), meanwhile, approved the same drug and last Sunday began the joint vaccination of the 27 member countries of the bloc to give a message of unity in the face of the pandemic, although Hungary, the Germany and Slovakia went ahead and started it. the day before, December 26.

The block has a total population of 450 million people and, during this first week, doses were delivered that vary by country: Spain received nearly 10,000, while France has almost doubled.

In Latin America, Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile started their vaccination campaigns on December 24, although in small quantities: Mexico received 3,000 doses, Chile 10,000 and Costa Rica 10,000 as well.

Argentina is the country in the region with the greatest number of vaccines with the 300,000 Sputnik V who arrived in the country from Moscow last Thursday and which have started to be administered in all the provinces.

In contrast, Brazil, the most affected by the pandemic with more than 7.5 million cases and around 192,000 deaths, still does not have a start date for the vaccination campaign, a situation which President Jair Bolsonaro has blamed. to laboratories. don’t go near “selling” your products.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Israel are among the first to start vaccination, on December 9 and 20, respectively.

In the latter country, around half a million people have already been vaccinated with the drug Pfizer-BioNTech, according to the Jerusalem Post, the first of which was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Saudi Arabia was not the first Persian Gulf monarchy to massively immunize the population, a title taken up by Bahrain, the second nation in the world to allow the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.