Paraguay plans to purchase coronavirus vaccines by 2022

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Paraguayan Ministry of Health continues to seek contracts with laboratories to purchase vaccines against coronavirus to plan and ensure supply by 2022, the head of the portfolio, Julio Borba, said Tuesday (13) at a press conference at the Government Palace.

Borba had planned a trip to the United States to advance talks with manufacturers this week but suspended it from attending the new stage of vaccination in Paraguay, with essential workers on Monday and people between 35 and 49 years old this Tuesday.

“The idea is to explore the three or four options we have in the US. We are in previous conversations via virtual with these companies. The idea is to be able to go and try to get a contract, which has its bureaucracy,” the minister commented.

Among the vaccines of interest to the Ministry of Health is Janssen of Johnson&Johnson, although Borba insisted that it is necessary to look first at “the possibility”.

With the purchases and donations planned for the coming months, Paraguay should “arrive well at the end of the year”, so with these moves, the Ministry wants to “ensure the provision of what would be next year.”

In this planning for 2022, Health also did not rule out the application of third doses against the coronavirus. However, the minister pointed out that “we will see how it presents itself in the future” and will consider the recommendations of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) and the laboratories.

“This whole disease is something very new, and every day new variants are appearing that could imply the third dose. We will be watching and planning based on that,” explained Borba.

On Monday, Paraguay surpassed the mark of one million people vaccinated, with more than 90,000 immunized in a day exclusively for essential workers, such as military, police, firefighters, teachers, or journalists.

The vaccination target for the South American country is about 4.3 million of the little more than 7 million that make up its total population.

However, only about 2.2 million people have registered with the Ministry, according to data provided by Borba.

On Monday night, 46 people died, bringing the total number of deaths to 13,964 and the number of infections to 438,764 cases since March 2020, when the country’s first positive result was confirmed.