Covid-19: Bolivia reports 141 new infections; receives vaccines from Mexico (September 12)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivian health authorities reported 141 new infections and five deaths due to covid-19 on a day in which 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the Government of Mexico arrived.

The figures recorded on this day brought to 18,587 the number of deaths and 495,035 the number of positive cases accumulated since March 2020.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia

According to the official report, the number of active cases currently stands at 30,381, and the accumulated number of people recovered is 446,067.

So far, 2,969,114 people have completed the Covid-19 vaccination scheme in Bolivia, and another 3,308,623 received the first dose, according to the same source.

The Bolivian Covid-19 immunization plan uses the Chinese Sinopharm and Russian Sputnik V vaccines purchased by the national government and those donated to the country through the United Nations Covax mechanism, which includes Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Janssen.

MEXICAN DONATION

On this day, Bolivian authorities received a donation of 150,000 AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived at the military airport in El Alto, neighboring La Paz.

The president of the country, Luis Arce, valued the solidarity of Mexico for the donated vaccines, whose shipment was made through the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac).

The drugs were received by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Rogelio Mayta, Health, Jeyson Auza, and the Mexican ambassador in La Paz, María Teresa Mercado.

Mercado assured that Mexico and Bolivia would continue “together” and “raising their voices in all international forums” to demand an equitable distribution of vaccines and the release of patents.

For his part, Auza highlighted that so far, the country has received 12,470,110 vaccines, between purchased and donated, and said that now “a new stage” will be opened in the immunization process in Bolivia with the mobilization of medical brigades to vaccinate those who are not yet immunized against the disease.

Auza asked the departmental health services (Sedes) to assume new strategies to reach more people with the vaccines.

TENSION WITH SANTA CRUZ

The national government is at odds with the eastern region of Santa Cruz, the largest and hardest hit by the pandemic, whose authorities have been accused of allegedly rejecting one million vaccines due to a problem with the cold chain storage to preserve the drugs.

Erwin Viruez, director of Sedes in Santa Cruz, denied that the vaccines had been rejected and explained that a 48-hour rescheduling was requested to receive them until the conclusion of the preventive and routine maintenance of the cold chambers Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI).

The Governor’s Office of Santa Cruz, in the hands of the opposition Luis Fernando Camacho, asked the national government not to politicize the issue and to comply with the delivery of the second dose of Sputnik V required by Santa Cruz.

The lack of second doses of Russian vaccines has caused unrest and complaints in some Bolivian regions. In contrast, President Arce has announced the arrival of 370,000 Sputnik V drugs this week, which will be enough “for all the people who are scheduled to receive their second dose until mid-October”.