Rodfo spent hours after his elderly mother tried to register for the Covid-19 vaccination through the Mexican government website, only to have the system crash repeatedly.
“I spent three days fighting with the website,” he said. “My mom wouldn’t be able to do that without me.”
Since the site launched on Tuesday, millions of Mexicans over 60 tried to register, but were met by error messages for days. And even when the page loaded, other users reported further delays when a separate government agency checked official ID numbers, just to give a “no response” message.
Many countries, including Canada and EU member states, struggled to roll out their vaccine programs but Mexico’s devastating launch came at a particularly bad time.
The country’s daily Covid-19 death toll averaged more than 1,000 during January, while the supply of hospital beds, oxygen tanks and end-of-life medicines was low. The official death toll now stands at more than 163,000 – the third highest in the world.
Only the government’s response to the Crashing Health Secretariat’s website fueled a sense of panic.
“It looks like a placebo,” said political analyst Barber Gonzalez after his parents registered for the vaccination. “It’s hard to believe that things will start to get better when they’re doing so poorly so far.”
Human rights groups also expressed concern that many people, including migrants and internal migrants from other countries, do not have an official ID number. Erica Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s US director, said health is a human right that cannot be denied for any reason, including their nationality or immigration status.
Mexico was the first country in Latin America to receive the Covid-19 vaccine and began vaccinating health workers on 22 December. But the pace has slowed to just 4,365 doses a day, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, and at current speeds, it would take a decade for all Mexicans to be vaccinated.
Mexican health officials expect more doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 400,000 doses of the Sputnik Vine vaccine to arrive later this month – according to the Associated Press, the country’s 750,000 frontline health workers are inadequate.
Health workers have complained that administrators have been vaccinated before. Questions have also been raised about vaccinating teachers in the southern Campach state – where the infection is low – so that classes can resume.
Thousands of employees promoting government social programs called “Servants of the Nation” are also being vaccinated ahead of their participation in the vaccination campaign, leading to the use of suspicious vaccinations as a prelude to the June mid-term election campaign.
“There’s no strategy here,” said healthcare analyst Xavier Tello. “It’s nothing more than a series of random schemes.”
The climax of the website is found with an enthusiastic video of President Andres Manuel López Obrador (commonly known as “Amlo”), in which he says he tested negative for coronavirus 12 days after contracting the disease.
He delivered his usual enthusiastic message of hope and faith with promises to get through the worst of the epidemic.
“We continue to take care of ourselves and believe that we are not going to be sick anymore. And, most importantly, we’re going to save lives, “he said.
“This month, we are going to vaccinate a large number of people, in this month of February. The same in March and April, ”he added.
La Paz Obrador is expected to return to work on Monday. His Thursday message spoke of unity – “This tragedy makes us more brotherly, more generous, more loving,” although he said he had maintained strict policies during his epidemic.
In his message, Lad Paz Obrador said: “We don’t have a customer crisis,” but restaurant owners and employees pleaded. They imposed a ban on humans and utensils outside their bases on Thursday in response to a tougher government response and lifting of restrictions on indoor dining.
“This is hard to sustain,” said Abel Hernandez, chef and owner of two restaurants in Mexico City. Eloise And Loretta. “It’s been 11 months and we have no support from the government.”
