Uruguay: More than 1 million vaccinated against Covid-19, 29% have received first dose

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The South American country inoculated 812,374 people with the first dose and another 192,788 with both doses.

Uruguay thus surpassed the mark of one million inoculated against Covid-19, most of them with the first dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine or the American Pfizer vaccine and a small group with the second dose.

According to the web monitor developed by the Ministry of Public Health, at 11:16 AM this Saturday, April 10, 6,887 of the 26,450 people registered for this day had already been vaccinated.

Thus, the South American country has already inoculated 1,005,162 people (29.03% of its population), 812,374 with the first dose, and 192,788 with both the first and the second dose. Also, vaccination of people between 70 and 79 years of age was started Saturday.

According to Our World in Data, Uruguay ranks 14th in the world with 28 doses applied per 100 inhabitants.

The country acquired 3.8 million doses from Sinovac and Pfizer, of which some 2 million are already in its territory.

Besides, it registered in the Covax platform, under the umbrella of the World Health Organization, and has already received 48,000 doses from AstraZeneca that could be sent to the areas on Uruguay’s border with Brazil, according to Public Health Minister Daniel Salinas.

Subsequently, Luis Lacalle Pou’s government finalized the acquisition of 1.25 million more doses from the Chinese laboratory, which are expected to arrive in May.

Uruguay initially established as priority groups for administering the vaccine teachers, police officers, firefighters, military personnel on active duty, and workers of the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents under 60 years of age.

Faced with a lower demand than expected, the Health Ministry sent doses to the border with Brazil, the area most affected by its pandemic, along with the prison population. Later, it opened the agenda to inoculate the population between 18 and 70 years of age.

On March 12 meanwhile, vaccination began with Pfizer for healthcare personnel, nursing homes, and people over 80 years of age.

Since March 13, 2020, when the health emergency was declared, Uruguay has accumulated 137,946 positive cases (32,342 people currently suffering from the disease, 453 are in intensive care) and 1,363 deaths.

Uruguayan Congressman Marne Osorio proposed that the Government offer vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to his Brazilian counterpart to “shield” the border between neighboring cities Rivera (Uruguay) and Santana do Livramento (Brazil).

“The reality here is that we are a single city with a neighborhood in each country in terms of the way of life. In fact, it is estimated that about 10,000 Brazilians are living in Rivera and about 10,000 Uruguayans in Santana Do Livramento,” the parliamentarian told EFE this Saturday.

In this sense, he explained that the binational life in the north of the Uruguayan territory requires a “common strategy” to reduce mobility and not suffocate the health system.

For this reason, Osorio feels it is necessary to accelerate the inoculation on the Brazilian side, and for this, he believes that Uruguay could sell vaccines.

“We have an excellent immunization rate, exceeding 40% with the first dose. Livramento started much earlier, it is one of the municipalities that is coming faster, but it has only 15%”, he pointed out.