Uruguay has vaccinated 70% of its population against the coronavirus in two doses: is there collective immunity?

Uruguay Tuesday exceeded 70% of its total population vaccinated with two doses of one of the coronavirus vaccines.

The Uruguayan press has pointed out that this is a percentage with which the World Health Organization considers that the long-awaited “herd immunity” has been achieved.

Until the afternoon of Tuesday, health authorities detailed that 2,480,286 people had been vaccinated with two doses, that is to say 70.02% of the population from the country.

On its Twitter account, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) celebrated this achievement with a message and a new goal: “Reaching the 75% target is possible. Take care of yourself and get vaccinated! », He encouraged.

The target was met outside the date set by the government to Luis Lacalle Pou. At the beginning of August, the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas, estimated that by the end of this month the percentage of vaccinated with the complete scheme would reach 73%.

The government calculates that the ultimate goal is to vaccinate 83% of the population from the country. The remaining 17% are children under 12 who currently cannot receive the Covid-19 serum.

Official data published in the monitor “Uruguay se Vacuna” reveals that 74.77% of the population applied the first dose.

In fact, 236,632 people have already received a booster dose after completing the immunization schedule.

According to local site The Daily, the department with the largest number of population that has already applied the doses of serum against the coronavirus is Flores, which reached 76.51%.

On the other side is Canelones, with 61.8% of the population with the full vaccination schedule.

The 65 to 74 age group has the most people vaccinated, unlike the 12 to 14 year old children and adolescents who were the last to start the vaccination process.

Uruguay was the first country in Latin America to vaccinate people under 18 with the Pfizer vaccine, followed by Chile.

Collective immunity?

70% of the population vaccinated with two doses has reopened in Uruguay the debate on the possibility that the country has achieved the long-awaited collective immunity.

In 2020, scientists agreed that it was necessary to vaccinate between 60% and 70% of the population, although with the arrival of new variants, it is becoming increasingly difficult to set a threshold for this. type.

Coronavirus cases have been systematically declining in the country in recent weeks. Monday they were detected 80 new cases and no deaths, according to the report of the National Emergency System.