Mexico.
The inhabitants of the native city San Juan Cancuc, in the Mexican state of Chiapas (south), rejected the possibility of using the vaccine against covid-19, local authorities reported.
In a letter to the area’s health authorities, the city’s mayor, José López, assured that the decision was being submitted for consultation and that the just over 24,000 residents decided not to will vaccinate.
“Only two people want to voluntarily apply the vaccine,” the official said in his letter to a local representative of the health authorities, known to AFP on Friday.
López pointed out that a meeting was held on January 28 with municipal assistants and the communities’ health committees to assess the benefits and potential adverse effects of the biological.
“In San Juan Cancuc, the covid-19 vaccination campaign will not be carried out at the elderly application phase and at no other phase,” said the mayor, without commenting on the arguments of residents.
In communities such as San Juan CancucWith a Tseltal Maya population, many decisions are made by the system of “Usos y Customs”, that is, an indigenous self-government that the civil authorities usually respect.
These places have their own health committees and also peace and reconciliation courts.
According to a 2020 census in Mexico7.3 million people speak an indigenous language, the main criterion for determining the identity of that sector of the population.
Various indigenous villages from Chiapas They were the scene of riots last year, following the spread of false rumors denying the existence of covid-19 or accusing authorities of spreading the virus through fumigations.
In some villages, residents have even organized to prevent the passage of health personnel who carried out information and prevention operations about the pandemic.
Mexico was the first Latin American country to apply a vaccine against covid-19 on December 24, followed by Chile and Costa Rica on the same day.
So far only the formula of the American-German company has been used Pfizer / BioNTech to vaccinate health workers from all over the country and teachers from the state of Campeche (south).
Mexico, with a population of 126 million, has so far 1,899,820 confirmed cases of the disease and 162,922 deaths.