[ad_1]
Nerves, excitement, hope. With mixed feelings, Latin America this Thursday began the vaccination process against covid-19 in Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica, to which was added the arrival this same day of the first doses to Argentina, which hopes to begin applying them the next week.
Although Puerto Rico in its condition of commonwealth of the United States has already immunized thousands of people since last week with Pfizer vaccines and, later, with those of Modern biotechnology, Mexico officially became the first country of the region to receive the medicine and start using it.
The best gift for 2020
“I am a little nervous, but very happy. The truth is the best gift I could receive in 2020. It gives me security to continue to lead this war against an invisible enemy, ”said nurse María Irene Ramírez, the first in her country to be inoculated.
The vaccination of Ramírez, who was hurt “a little bit” as he admitted with a smile, and others were broadcast during the morning press conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose country received the first 3,000 doses sent by Pfizer directly to America the day before Latin.
The pandemic has affected more than 1.35 million people and claimed at least 120,000 lives in Mexico, the fourth country in the world with the highest number of deaths.
“We are very happy, it is a shower of emotions,” Lucía Ledezma, who has been “dealing with uncertainty, anguish and fear” in her hospital, explained to Efe while standing in line to be vaccinated.
After the health personnel, and waiting for the 34.4 million vaccines from Pfizer, the 77.4 million from the British AstraZeneca and the 35 million from the Chinese CanSino bought by the Government, the vaccination “will be universal and free ”For the 130 million Mexicans gradually between February 2021 and March 2022, as guaranteed by López Obrador.
A moment of hope
Then and in South America, “with very strong emotions”, the nurse Zulema Riquelme, from the Puente Alto hospital -one of the most humble neighborhoods in Santiago-, followed in the footsteps of her Mexican colleagues and became the person with whom the vaccination process began in Chile.
The start of immunization is a “moment of hope for all Chileans,” said President Sebastián Piñera.
After the first batch of 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received this morning, another will arrive next week and the process will continue with periodic shipments until completing the 10 million that Chile has reserved for this laboratory, according to the president.
The vaccine, free and voluntary, will be applied first to the elderly and chronically ill, about 5 million people, during the first quarter of 2021. The rest of the population, about 15 million Chileans, will obtain it during the first semester.
In the last 24 hours, Chile once again registered more than 2,000 new cases, an upward trend that began 10 days ago with an increase in positives, especially in the capital.
The most opportune moment
The turn also arrived in Costa Rica this Thursday, in what the authorities described as the “beginning of the road” to end a pandemic that is at the most critical moment for the country, with the occupation in critical intensive care exceeding 90% and in severe intensive care above 70%.
After receiving the first 9,750 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech on Wednesday night, the Government administered the first vaccines to Elizabeth Castillo, 91, and George De Ford, 72, from the long-stay center for the elderly Fundación Pro Personas Adultas Seniors, in the town of Tres Ríos, Cartago province (center).
“Life is very important to me,” Castillo told Channel 13, adding that she feels “very grateful to God,” while De Ford said that the injection “did not hurt at all” and made a call to the population. so that “everyone gets vaccinated.”
The process started today was structured in a progressive order with which it is intended to cover 80% of people over 18 years of age and thus generate the so-called “herd immunity” and which, according to the authorities, will be slow and will last practically during all 2021.
“Today a milestone is marked, a beginning, but there is still a long way to go. This is an excellent gift that comes to us at the most opportune moment ”, affirmed the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, who insisted on the need for the population to maintain preventive measures, especially at Christmas and New Years.
The pandemic did not pass
For its part, Argentina received its first shipment of 300,000 doses, in its case from Russia, as a kind of Christmas gift that the Government seeks to start “delivering” from next week to appease a pandemic that already leaves more than 42,000 dead and 1.56 million infected in the country.
It is “a very emotional day for all of us, for the majority of Argentines who want to move forward,” said the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, Santiago Cafiero, at a press conference at the Buenos Aires international airport, where the first arrived vaccines that Russia exports. “We hope that our vaccine will help save the lives of millions of Argentines. It is safe and effective, ”said the Russian ambassador to Argentina, Dmitry Feoktistov.
According to the contract between the two countries, after today’s one, another shipment of 5 million doses will be received in January and 14.7 million in February, with the option of expanding the order by 5 million, to which are added two other contracts to acquire 22.4 million from the British AstraZeneca -which would apply from March- and 9 million with the international alliance Covax, which depends on the United Nations.
However, the purchase of the Russian vaccine generated a strong controversy in recent days, mainly after the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, said that it was not yet ready to be applied to those over 60 years of age, to which the rebound in cases in recent weeks.
“We are very concerned,” said the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, who added that with the arrival of the vaccine “the pandemic did not happen”, so it is “essential” to preserve the care measures.
[ad_2]
