Chile plans to vaccinate its entire population over age 16 by the end of June

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In Chile, 17,318,719 doses have been administered. The number of people vaccinated with only the first dose stands at 9,619,890, while people vaccinated with both doses now total 7,698,822. In percentage terms, this means that a total of 63.3% of the target population (15.2 million people) have been vaccinated with the first dose and 50.6% have already completed the full vaccination schedule

On Sunday, Chilean government and health authorities received 2.2 million Sinovac vaccine doses, which will help to start immunizing the younger population aged between 26 and 29 during this week. According to officials present on Sunday’s landing, this shipment is the largest Chile has received since the mass vaccination plan began last February.

Until the arrival of this new shipment, a total of 21,022,276 doses had reached the country. Of this total, Sinovac supplied 17,171,476 doses, Pfizer-BioNTech 3,361,020 doses and Oxford-AstraZeneca 489,600 doses. The latter are only being administered to women over 55 and men over 18 years of age.

Over the past few weeks, around 272,610 Pfizer and 331,200 AstraZeneca vaccines also reached Chile through the Covax global mechanism.

Next steps

After the delivery of these new 2.2 million Sinovac vaccines, Chile will proceed with the mass vaccination of its young population, in an attempt to fulfill the pledge of immunizing the entire target population (15.2 million people over 16 years of age) by the end of June.

On Monday, young people aged between 26 and 29 began to be immunized with the first dose. In parallel, vaccination with the second dose will also advance, of pregnant women from 16 weeks of gestation, late registrants aged 30 years and over, and chronic patients aged 18 to 24 years.

The following week, i.e. from Monday, May 31 to Friday, June 4, the Chilean vaccination plan will be extended to young people aged between 23 and 25. Concurrently, vaccination with the second dose, pregnant women and late registrants aged 26 and over will also be continued.

“Mobility pass” for Chile

Amidst the consequences of its second wave of coronavirus, Chile has decided that as of this week it will issue a “Mobility Pass” to people who have completed the immunization process with the two vaccine doses.

The initiative was presented on Sunday, and will allow increased mobility to those vaccinated in the communities under quarantine. Moreover, beneficiaries will be allowed to take inter-regional trips, which is currently forbidden.

The “Mobility Pass” will be available from Monday, and the Chilean government has strongly advocated the initiative in recent hours. According to Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, at this point “people have to experience” the efforts they have made during these months of confinement.

“It is not that with this pass we are releasing everyone, but it is precisely the groups that today behave more responsibly, in addition to the second doses within 14 days. It seems that to start this discussion is quite reasonable from the sanitary and also social perspective,” said Minister Delgado on Monday.

The measure was celebrated by the tourism and food and beverage labor unions. The president of the Federation of Tourism Companies of Chile (Fedetur), Ricardo Margulis, said that he believes that activities will restart because of this document, and assured that “it is a glimmer of hope.”

“It is a measure that Fedetur had been insistently asking the Government, because this way we will be able to start working again and get back on our feet,” said Margulis.

Meanwhile, the Chilean Medical Association (Colmed) has once again criticized the government’s decision to implement a “Mobility Pass” amid a second wave still affecting the country. This Monday, 5,374 new cases of coronavirus and 30 deaths were reported. While the number of active cases stands at 40,780.

Colmed’s vice-president, Patricio Meza, pointed out that the association believes that “a step-by-step strategy must be implemented.” Moreover, Meza maintained that the “Mobility Pass” will lead to a “total loss of control of the pandemic.”

Source: infobae