RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru has reached this Saturday the two million vaccines against covid-19 applied among its population. During a day dedicated to the immunization of adults over 70 years of age in Lima.
“Today, we surpassed the two million vaccines applied, and I am happy that it has taken place in this vaccination center in El Agustino and the person of Mrs. Olinda,” declared the Peruvian Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte, after the application of the dose to an 84-year-old woman.
The Health Minister visited the vaccination center installed by the ministry at the Mariscal Domingo Nieto Army Cavalry Regiment in the Agustino district, in the center of Lima.
Ugarte estimated that by next July when the current transitional government’s term ends, it will have been able to vaccinate five million people in the country with the flow of doses that have been contracted to date.
Last week, the Government of President Francisco Sagasti confirmed the acquisition of 60 million vaccines after signing a contract for 12 million additional doses with the Pfizer laboratory.
So far, Peru has accumulated 1.8 million cases of covid-19, with more than 3,000 cases per day and more than 63,500 confirmed deaths.
The national vaccination campaign, which is currently aimed at people over 70 years of age, results from coordinated work between the Ministry of Health, the EsSalud social security system, local governments, clinics, and the Armed Forces and National Police, the minister said.
Ugarte asked citizens to respect the appointments and designated vaccination sites to avoid crowds in one place and absenteeism in others.
On the other hand, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers published a communiqué in which it remarked that the acquisition of the vaccines has been an effort of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, and Economy and that the private sector has collaborated with the transportation of the first batch of vaccines and later in the application of the doses.
In this sense, the Government rejected that the so-called Comando Vacuna, formed by representatives of the business sector, has advised the Executive in this work, as was stated in some media.
“We have not received any advice from third parties for the negotiation, acquisition, or application of the vaccines”, the document stated.