RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Francisco Sagasti on Sunday night, November 29th, projected that the Peruvian population may be immunized with the largest batch of vaccines against coronavirus in April 2021.
Within this framework, the Head of State reminded that the arrival of 50,000 vaccine doses from Pfizer laboratory —planned for December— will serve to immunize 25,000 people, as each person will receive two doses.
Likewise, the top official explained that health authorities will use these vaccines to set up the logistics system pilot program, which will allow the Government to be better prepared for the time that the large batch of vaccines lands in Peru, which “will surely start to be administered in April.”
“With the first Pfizer vaccines we have to test this logistics system to see what is learned. We will do so in places featuring different characteristics. Thus, we will measure temperatures, distances, storage systems, and so on,” he expressed.
“Let’s see what we learn in order to be better prepared,” he added.
Moreover, the statesman indicated that —based on the daily monitoring of COVID-19 cases by health authorities— it is believed that there could not be so much a second wave in Peru, but rather a small increase or localized outbreaks.
“Probably, something is coming, what we are observing is not so much a wave, but a small increase; we do not know if it will become bigger or not; and the other things we are observing are localized outbreaks; this is what happened in other parts of the world, but it is not known why. We are learning every day, and we are adapting plans,” he said.
Vaccination brigades
Lastly, the President commented that the challenge of vaccinating the population aged over 18 in such a short time is enormous.
Therefore, one of the main tasks now is to set up the brigades that will be present in 18,000 immunization posts.
“The challenge is enormous in the case of vaccines because it is difficult to deliver 22 or 23 million vaccines in a period of three months; that is an option. However, vaccines are not like carrying papers in an election, it is a gigantic task,” he concluded.
Remarks were made during an interview with journalists from investigative journalism TV programs Cuarto Poder, Panorama, Punto Final, and Dia D, which air on Sunday nights.
President Sagasti took office on November 17. He replaced resigning Manuel Merino, who stepped down on November 1th —after less than one week in office and amid major protests.
Source: Andina