Uruguay will use AstraZeneca vaccine from Covax platform to shield its border with Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay’s Ministry of Public Health (MSP) announced on Thursday that it will send part of the 48,000 doses it received of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the departments (provinces) bordering Brazil.

The vaccines reached Montevideo on April 4th and are part of the Covax platform, under the umbrella of the World Health Organization, through which the South American country will receive 1.5 million doses.

According to a statement issued Thursday by the MSP, this first batch will be distributed between the departments of Artigas, Rivera, Cerro Largo and Rocha, all bordering Brazil, due to risks associated with the circulation of the P1 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

They will also go to Canelones, Paysandú, Río Negro and Salto “with the aim of administering them to people over 60 years of age.”

On the other hand, the portfolio points out that the vaccine “offers the guarantees” given by the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization and was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

It also points out that the National Advisory Commission on Vaccination considers it “effective and safe, with benefits highly superior to the associated risks reported, given its 82% efficacy in preventing infection.”

So far, 35.50% of the Uruguayan population has been inoculated against Covid-19, most of them with the first dose of the Chinese CoronaVac or the American Pfizer vaccine and a considerably smaller group with the second dose.

According to the web monitor developed by the MOH, more than 1,230,000 people have been vaccinated, over 988,000 with the first dose and more than 243,000 with the second dose.

In addition to the Covax platform vaccines, Uruguay purchased 3.8 million doses from Sinovac and Pfizer, of which some 2 million have reached the country.

Subsequently, the government of Luis Lacalle Pou finalized the acquisition of 1.25 million more doses from the Chinese laboratory, scheduled to arrive in May.

Source: Infobae