Uruguay has immunized 70% of its population with two vaccine doses (August 24)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to data released by the Ministry of Health, 70% of Uruguay’s population has been administered the two doses of CoronaVac, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as shown on Tuesday in the monitor developed by Uruguay’s Ministry of Public Health.

A total of 168,414 people have also been administered the first dose and are waiting for the second.

In addition, 233,220 people administered the CoronaVac or AstraZeneca vaccines have received a third dose, in this case from Pfizer, and another 328,769 are scheduled to do so.

After the news was released, Minister of Public Health Daniel Salinas shared an image on Twitter showing the figure reached by the South American country, as did President Luis Lacalle Pou.

Uruguay has gone from being one of the countries registering the most deaths per million inhabitants between April and June to having the second highest number of vaccines administered to its population – after the United Arab Emirates – as of August 13, according to Our World in Data monitoring by the University of Oxford, with 144 doses per 100 inhabitants.

Cases dropped significantly, with 17 deaths recorded 2 weeks ago, mainly among the unvaccinated population.

Chile is next with 139 doses per 100 inhabitants. Both countries administered the CoronaVac (inactivated virus) to their population and boosted with AstraZeneca or Pfizer (messenger RNA). According to Our World in Data, both countries report less than 2% of positive tests.

In Chile, vaccination with the third dose began on August 11 and in Uruguay on Monday, August 16, administering the booster dose to over 30,000 people. Their governments understand that immunogenicity, i.e. the capacity of the antigen to create an immune response, decreases as months go by, and that “neutralizing antibodies decline with an average life of around 100 days,” explains a document from the Chilean Ministry of Public Health’s Immunization Department dated August 5.

Uruguay’s National Vaccination Advisory Commission also aims to “optimize the immune response” in risk groups, “increase overall immunity in the population by standardizing the use of messenger RNA vaccines” and “strengthen the population’s immunity” against the Delta variant introduced by Uruguayan tourists.

Uruguay on Tuesday registered 123 new cases in 9,134 tests, and reported 5 deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, according to the National Emergency System’s (SINAE) daily report.

The victims were 5 women aged between 58 and 75, thus raising the number of deaths due to the disease to 6,020 since March 13, 2020, when the health emergency was declared in the South American country.

Since the start of the pandemic, Uruguay has reported 384,287 Covid-19 cases of which 1,307 are currently infected, 13 of them in Intensive Care Facilities.

Likewise, the country remains in the yellow zone of the Harvard index, which accumulates the weekly average of new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with a record of 3.53. Of the country’s 19 departments (provinces), 3 are in the green zone: Río Negro (west), Tacuarembó (northeast) and Florida (center), while the others are in the yellow zone.

The Uruguayan government recently announced the gradual opening of borders as of September 1, when foreigners with properties in Uruguay will be able to enter the country. From November 1, any foreigner who has completed the vaccination schedule will be allowed to enter Uruguay.