Why Uruguay is the last country in South America to receive Covid vaccines

The race for coronavirus vaccines began in late 2020 in South America. Since then, the different nations have proudly announced the completion and arrival of their respective doses to begin to see the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel. However, Uruguay is still waiting.

Although the country’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, announced on January 23 the acquisition of nearly 3.8 million doses of Pfizer and Sinovac – in addition to the 1.5 million doses he has already obtained from the Covax platform, created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for distribution among the least advantaged countries – the truth is that there is no certainty of the arrival date.

Since the health emergency was declared due to the arrival of covid in Uruguay on March 13, 2020, the country has accumulated 50,752 cases of covid-19, 5,218 active, including 71 in intensive care and 558 deaths.

On several occasions, Uruguayan authorities have stated that vaccines will arrive between late February and early March and have taken steps to get that time ready, such as purchasing ultra-refrigerators, a vaccination plan and conditioning of sites for inoculation.

Despite this, this comment from Lacalle Pou in August 2020 was far behind when he declared that he was going to try to make his country the “first in line” for the acquisition of vaccines since, for the moment, the whole region has them. acquired less Uruguay. .

According to the OurWorldInData site, Argentina has already vaccinated more than 600,000 people, Brazil nearly 6 million, Ecuador more than 8,000, Chile more than 2.3 million – the leader in the vaccination rate in the region -, Bolivia more than 10,000 and Peru about 118,000.

In addition to purchasing doses of vaccine from Pfizer (United States) and Sinovac (China) laboratories, Uruguay does not rule out negotiating with Russia for the acquisition of Sputnik V, which has already reached countries like Argentina or Bolivia.

“In theory, we should receive vaccines of up to 3% of the population in March,” the president said at the January 23 conference.

While Lacalle Pou received his Paraguayan counterpart, Mario Abdo Benítez on Wednesday, this country not only confirmed the acquisition of new doses of Sputnik V via a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also made the arrival on Thursday. of their first vaccinations.

With that and the arrival of doses in Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana, Uruguay is the only country in South America without vaccines on the ground.

Opposition criticisms

For the time being, Lacalle Pou avoids referring to specific dates and the authorities speak of a successful “pre-vaccination” process to prepare the logistics necessary for the implementation of the doses.

This has already drawn criticism from the opposition. The Frente Amplio (FA, left) is considering calling the health authorities in parliament to explain the reasons for the delays.

Although from the outset, Lacalle Pou and Presidential Secretary Álvaro Delgado argued that the arrival date would be set for March, the look at neighbors in the region has sparked criticism and concern from Uruguayans, despite the fact that the country was the one that was most successful in controlling the progress of the pandemic last year.

What is a fact is that, despite the attempts, Uruguay could not “squeeze” among the greats and be in the lead. Now, given the certain optimism that is waking up that the number of positive cases is declining, Uruguay will have to wait, with its characteristic calm with which it faces reality, for the vaccines to land in Montevideo.

By Federico Anfitti, EFE agency

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