Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica began administering the first Covid-19 vaccines in Latin America on Thursday as the region most affected by the disease seeks relief from the pandemic.
The first injection was broadcast live from a hospital in Mexico and screened during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s daily press conference. It was administered to the chief of nursing staff in an ICU unit at Mexico City’s General Hospital. In Chile, the government selected five health workers for vaccination, which was also televised. Costa Rica also started its vaccination campaign on Thursday. All three apply Pfizer Inc shots.
The arrivals of the vaccine provide a glimpse of it hope to a region particularly devastated by the virus. Brazil has the second highest number of deaths in the world from the virus, with Mexico in fourth place. The death rate in Mexico is also one of the highest in the world. Hospital occupancy in Mexico City has reached 85%, and a study says health services can quickly overwhelmed.
“Mexico is the first country in Latin America to have this vaccine,” the president of Mexico said at the press conference. “Pfizer keeps its promise.”
Vaccine push
The economies of Chile and Mexico will benefit from extensive vaccination coverage
Source: Bloomberg
Virus Tracker: 78.8 Million Cases Worldwide; Deaths 1.73 million
The Mexican government plans to vaccinate nearly 3,000 people on Thursday in what authorities call a test drive. Pfizer is expected to ship an additional 50,000 doses to Mexico next week.
A plane arrived in Chile on Thursday morning with the country’s first 10,000 doses. At a press conference, President Sebastian Pinera said the country is aiming to vaccinate the majority of health workers and citizens at risk – about 5 million people – in the first quarter of 2021.
A nurse receives the coronavirus vaccine on December 24 at Hospital Metropolitano in Santiago, Chile.
Source: Chile Ministry of Health / Getty Images
Brazil, the Latin American country with the highest number of Covid-19 cases, has fallen behind in the region’s race to inoculate its population. The pressure to get injections has been paralyzed by political infighting and setbacks in the timeline of the locally produced Coronavac vaccine.
The earliest date announced so far for vaccinations in Latin America’s largest economy is January 25, just for the state of Sao Paulo. The country’s Supreme Court has also ruled that Brazilians can be mandated to take the vaccine.
Read more: Brazil’s Supreme Court rules against Covid Anti-Vaxxers
While Latin American countries have lagged behind developed countries in their vaccine rollout programs, the US has already administered more than a million doses – Mexico and Chile secured more doses of the virus than anyone else in the region.
300,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine also arrived in Argentina on Thursday. President Alberto Fernandez thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday afternoon in a social media post on Twitter for the “commitment” he had shown to Argentina, saying the shipment will kick off the largest vaccination campaign in the country’s history.
– With the help of Valentina Fuentes and Michael D McDonald
(Updates with details of Argentina’s vaccination plans in the last paragraph.)