RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As promised, the government of Guillermo Lasso has announced that in July Ecuador will receive 10 million vaccine doses against Covid-19, to meet the goal of immunizing 9 million Ecuadorians in 100 days.
According to Public Health Ministry figures, so far 4,451,790 people have been administered at least one vaccine dose, which means that there are still over 5 million citizens to be vaccinated by September 5.
The government has announced that “Ecuador continues to knock on the world’s doors through an unprecedented diplomatic operation.” It was precisely this vaccine diplomacy that enabled the country to receive a donation from the U.S. government of 2 million Pfizer doses last Friday, July 2.
The following day, on Saturday, July 4, the largest vaccine shipment arrived in Ecuador. The Sinovac doses received are part of a direct purchase agreement made by the country with China. Last week alone, Ecuador received over 3.1 million vaccines.
The shipment was received by Vice-President Alfredo Borrero Vega, Health Minister Ximena Garzón, Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Chen Gouyou, and various other Ecuadorian dignitaries.
During the event, Vice-President Borrero stated that the arrival of these doses “represents a historic event because it is the first shipment of this volume to be delivered under the administration of President Guillermo Lasso.”
The Vice-President also noted that “we are already vaccinating populations that are difficult to access, such as the peoples of the Amazon, the Waorani community, prisoners and the military. The vaccination process is advancing and hope is emerging among Ecuadorians.”
During the reception of doses, Health Minister Ximena Garzón announced that this month Ecuador will receive over 10 million doses. She also thanked the Chinese government for supporting the 9-100 Vaccination Plan and reiterated the vaccination schedule for the coming days.
“From the second week of July we will start the mass vaccination process, with the support of our large Vaccination Centers,” she said.
So far, according to Ministry of Health figures, Ecuador has received more than 8.2 million vaccines from Pfizer, Sinovac and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies: 2,645,089 Pfizer doses, 4,220,000 Sinovac doses, and 1,370,000 AstraZeneca doses.
In addition, the Ecuadorian government has reported that the country has negotiated more than 32 million doses directly with pharmaceutical companies. Of this total, 7 million correspond to the Covax initiative, 5 million to Pfizer, 6 million to AstraZeneca/Oxford, 8 million to Sinovac, and 6 million to CanSino.
Currently, the 9-100 vaccination plan is in its second stage, called “We take care of ourselves,” in which the government is vaccinating people aged 50 to 64. According to the schedule published on the Ministry of Health’s website, this stage will be completed on July 15.
This will mark the beginning of the third stage “Less contagious,” in which people aged 16 to 49 will be vaccinated.
Despite the steady delivery of vaccine doses to Ecuador, the Ministry of Health has registered between 25% and 30% absenteeism in vaccination centers.
Source: Infobae