Bolivia suspends vaccination certificate requirement until January 26

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The last minute announcement was made by Health Minister Jeyson Auza, after a meeting with the National Strategic Council for Health Emergencies.

“Public, private, natural, legal, national and foreign institutions will not require the presentation of the Covid-19 vaccination certificate until January 26, 2022,” Auza told the media in La Paz.

This seeks to “promote the vaccination process” and “optimize vaccination posts which to date are fulfilling the task of saving and protecting the lives of the Bolivian people,” he added.

The Minister emphasized that people have “turned out” en masse to vaccination posts following the regulations establishing the requirement to present a Covid-19 vaccination card or a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours to enter public spaces as of January 1.

However, the decision to suspend the measure until January 26 is due to “problems” experienced by subnational governments, mainly in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and La Paz, the country’s most populated regions, “given the large turnout” in areas where vaccines are being administered, Auza said.

Since last week, long lines have been seen at vaccination posts in several of the main Bolivian cities.

Bolivia has been experiencing a fourth wave of the pandemic since October and has reached peak numbers of daily infections in the last weeks of 2021.

In response, the Bolivian Executive declared a health emergency and ordered the requirement of vaccination certificates, while several subnational governments suspended New Year’s celebrations.

On Wednesday, the country registered 10,263 new cases, a new record, and 38 deaths, figures that raised to 641,817 the number of infections and 19,848 the number of deaths since March 2020.

Auza said that last week alone, over 34,000 new cases were reported, “the highest figure in the pandemic,” although he also pointed out that the case fatality rate dropped to 0.7%.

The official also pointed out that in 3 days almost 500,000 doses of antiviral vaccines were administered.