Chile signed new agreements to obtain millions of vaccines against the coronavirus

Chile announced this Tuesday that it signed new agreements to provide the country with millions of doses of vaccines against the coronavirus once these are approved, said President Sebastián Piñera.

The president explained that during this day there was a agreement with Covax -a global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Union, Latin American countries and foundations such as that of Bill and Melinda Gates- that will allow Chile “Access eight million doses” of the vaccine chosen by the country, “with the validation of the WHO.”

Additionally, it reported that another agreement was signed with the Pfizer-BioNtech laboratory in the United States and Germany, so that once this vaccine is approved, the country can access 10 million doses, “with a delivery schedule that, if the necessary tests and authorizations are successful, will begin next year,” he said. President Piñera.

Chile too reserved 14.4 million doses of the vaccine being developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory, in conjunction with the University of Oxford -one of the most advanced currently under development- and promotes a new agreement with the laboratory Sinovac from China to also carry out clinical trials in Chile.

According to Piñera, once the country has a “safe and effective” vaccine, the population most vulnerable to the virus will be vaccinated first, estimated at five million Chileans, equivalent to 26% of the population, which includes health workers, those over 65, chronically ill and people who live in closed centers. Then, it will advance towards the rest of the population.

The idea, according to the president, is to achieve vaccinate more than 80% of Chileans.

The coronavirus has hit Chile hard since the first case reported in the country on March 3. From that date they are registered 448,523 infections and 12,321 confirmed deaths, a figure that exceeds 16,000 if suspicious deaths are included.

For three months, daily infections remain stable at around 1,800, allowing a gradual opening in much of the Metropolitan area, although in cities in the south of the country the contagion remains high.

Chile added this Tuesday 1,054 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest number since May, bringing the total balance to 448,523 infected, but concern increases in the south of the country, especially in the southern Magallanes Region, which is experiencing a second wave of infections.

The health authorities also reported that the currently active cases decreased to 13,026 throughout the country and 23 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, raising to 12,321 the deceased with positive PCR since the beginning of March.

The positivity rate, which for weeks stood at around 5%, increased again for the second day in a row and stood at 7.8%, due in part to the low number of PCR tests carried out in the last hours, which barely reached 13,400 tests compared to the usual 30,000 due to the hangover of the past National Holidays.

Chile began in July a process of gradual opening up of the economy and a five-stage deconfinement plan, which is applied by sectors based on the epidemiology of the virus.

With information from AFP and EFE

MORE ON THIS TOPIC:

Chile registers a slight rebound in positivity rate after National Holidays

“Take care, do not go backwards”: the advice of an Argentine taxi driver in an advertisement against the reform of the Constitution in Chile