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A Mexican military doctor receives the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, at the General Hospital of Mexico City, on December 24, 2020. – Mexico began a mass vaccination program against coronavirus on Thursday with a nurse to be shown receiving the vaccine. the country with one of the highest Covid-19 death numbers in the world. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
Mexico City, Mexico – Frontline medical workers in Mexico and Chile were among the first to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on Thursday, when several Latin American countries launched mass vaccination programs.
“It is the best gift I could receive in 2020,” said Mexican nurse María Irene Ramírez, 59, while receiving the injection at a hospital in the capital on Christmas Eve.
“It makes me more secure and gives me more courage to continue the war against an invisible enemy. We are afraid, but we must continue ”.
Mexico’s televised launch came a day after the first 3,000 doses produced by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech arrived on a courier plane from Belgium.
Mexico has registered more than 120,000 deaths from COVID-19, the fourth highest number in the world after the United States, Brazil and India.
Brazil, which has reported nearly 190,000 deaths, is still negotiating the purchase of 350 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by 2021.
Immunization has been a highly politicized issue, and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly said that he will not get vaccinated.
‘The hope of all’
In Chile, nursing assistant Zulema Riquelme, 46, was the first person to receive the vaccine, hours after the first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived by plane.
“I am very excited and nervous, many emotions,” she said after being vaccinated in the presence of President Sebastián Piñera in the capital.
“You are everyone’s hope,” Piñera told him.
Workers carry a box containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine to a helicopter for distribution at the Santiago international airport on December 24, 2020 (Photo by CLAUDIO REYES / AFP)
Mexico was the first country in Latin America to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, closely followed by Chile and Costa Rica, which were also due to begin an immunization program on Thursday.
“It may be the beginning of the end of this pandemic,” said the president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado.
Meanwhile, Argentina received the first 300,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on Thursday on a special flight from Moscow.
It is the only Latin American country that has so far approved the Russian vaccine, which has faced criticism because it was registered before the start of large-scale clinical trials.
Argentina and Mexico also have an agreement with Britain’s AstraZeneca to produce their vaccine and supply it to Latin American nations.
Mexico City and its environs announced last week a new suspension of all non-essential activities, warning that hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by an increase in the number of cases.
The government has promised that the vaccines will be available for free throughout the country of nearly 129 million people, a massive logistical challenge involving the military.
The first doses were transferred this Wednesday to a military installation in the south of Mexico City, guarded by a security escort to prevent them from falling into the hands of the country’s powerful criminal gangs.
The Foreign Ministry said that by January 31, 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would arrive, of the 34.4 million that the US company agreed to deliver.
The country also has preliminary purchase agreements with CanSino Biologics of China for 35 million doses and with AstraZeneca for 77.4 million doses.
It is also part of the international COVAX mechanism aimed at ensuring equitable access for all countries, allowing it to purchase 51.6 million additional vaccines.
Chile has reserved 30 million doses of three vaccines, enough to immunize 15 million people in the country of 18 million by mid-2021, according to Piñera.
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What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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