Youths cross border to Uruguay for Covid-19 vaccine: “In Brazil, it would take too long”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (BBC Brasil) Son of an Uruguayan woman, Abdel is an example of a ‘doble chapa’, as Brazilians of Uruguayan descent who have dual citizenship are called in the region.

Like him, Brazilians over 18 years old and who have Uruguayan citizenship can be immunized against the new coronavirus in the neighboring country – it is not necessary to be a health professional or be part of any other priority group.

“It was fascinating, a very nice surprise. I didn’t expect to be vaccinated so quickly because I was waiting in Brazil, where it would take a long, long time,” the young man tells BBC News Brasil.

While Brazil walks slowly in the immunization against Covid-19, Uruguay has advanced rapidly in its inhabitants’ immunization. The neighboring country plans to vaccinate about 70% of its nearly 3.5 million residents by the end of the first half of this year.

Several residents of Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul, have been vaccinated across the border in Rivera, Uruguay. In the Brazilian city of about 76,000 inhabitants, many residents have dual citizenship.

Several Uruguayans lived in Brazil and went to their country of origin to be immunized. Brazilians who work in Uruguay are also being vaccinated there.

The vaccination on the Brazilian border is considered essential by Uruguayan authorities due to Brazil’s current pandemic scenario, with successive records of deaths and cases.

I tagged him on WhatsApp

It was through a post on Instagram that Abdel learned that he could already be vaccinated. “It came out in the profile of the public health network of Uruguay that they were starting to vaccinate (different ages). I got the WhatsApp number on the page, forwarded my data, and dialed,” says the young man, who had the application scheduled for days later.

To get vaccinated, Brazilians need to register and send to the Uruguayan Ministry of Health a document proving their link to the neighboring country. This can be done through the Ministry’s website or through a WhatsApp number created to schedule the immunizations.

After the confirmation, the Ministry of Health of Uruguay sends information about the place and date of vaccination of the first and second doses.

Abdel took the first dose of CoronaVac two days after his 18th birthday. On the same date, his mother, an Uruguayan living in Brazil, also received the first dose.

It took about 15 minutes from Santana do Livramento, where they live, to the vaccination site, a health center in Rivera.

In the Uruguayan hospital area reserved only for immunization, Abdel and his mother had to fill out a form with their Uruguayan data. Then they went to a line, in which people need to keep a distance of about two meters from each other.

“Everything was fine, it went according to plan. We arrived 20 minutes earlier and still managed to be vaccinated before 3 pm (which was the scheduled time),” says the young man. He and his mother will take the second dose at the end of April.

Another Brazilian who was also recently vaccinated in Rivera is university student Daniela Muratorio, 25. She was immunized on March 26. “When the vaccine arrived in Uruguay, I already knew that the process would be much faster (than in Brazil),” says the young woman, who lives in Brazil, is the daughter of an Uruguayan, and has dual citizenship.

“It was all swift. My brother, 28, was vaccinated (with the first dose) one day before me. My father, 58, was vaccinated in early March in Uruguay and is already going to take the second dose.”

Vaccination in Uruguay

Uruguay began immunization against Covid-19 on March 1. It was the last country in South America to begin vaccinations. Despite this, Uruguayan authorities announced that they had already purchased enough vaccines for the local population – the immunizers have been slowly arriving in the country.

Uruguay has the vaccines Coronavac from China’s Sinovac and Cominarty, from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer/BioNtech. While the former has been applied in large part of the population, the latter has been used mainly in health professionals and those over 80 years old.

Later, the country should also receive doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through the international consortium Covax Facility, an initiative linked to the World Health Organization to distribute immunizers against Covid-19.

In the first week of the Uruguay immunization campaign, the country prioritized healthcare professionals, military and police officers, teachers, and firefighters. This was followed by citizens over 80, older people living in shelters, and prisoners.

Another group that had priority was people between 50 and 70 years old. At the time, vaccination began for Brazilians with dual citizenship who were in this same age group. After the priority groups, the country started the vaccination of the general population over 18 years old – which also became valid for Brazilians with dual citizenship.

The immunization for the general population was brought forward due to Uruguay’s current pandemic scenario, the worst since the first records of Covid-19 in the country.

“We saw that we are very threatened by the increase in Covid-19 cases, so we preferred to broaden the horizon of those vaccinated,” says Uruguayan infectologist Eduardo Savio Larriera, coordinator of the immunization committee of the Pan American Association of Infectology.

Considered a positive example in the midst of the pandemic, Uruguay now faces serious difficulties. Recently, the country surpassed the mark of 100,000 cases of Covid-19 and 1,000 deaths from the disease during the entire pandemic.

Despite maintaining one of the lowest Covid-19 mortality rates in Latin America (approximately 1%), the current rates indicate a worrying situation in the country. In recent weeks, Uruguay has been registering constant daily records of new cases and deaths from covid-19.

The local hospital system is facing the highest level of occupancy since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Larriera, immunization in the border region with Brazil was considered a key action in the Uruguayan immunization plan. One of the main fears, according to him, is the current situation in Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, which is facing a severe period of pandemic so far and has its health system overloaded.

“Cases of the Brazilian P1 variant, which is considered more transmissible, have already been identified, so the Uruguayan border with Brazil is of extreme concern. The problem is that we have an open border with uncontrollable traffic of people,” says the expert.

Source: BBC Brasil