Uruguay, first country in Latin America to vaccinate adolescents against Covid-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay started today, June 9, the vaccination process against Covid-19 for the population between 12 and 17 years old, becoming the first country in Latin America to inoculate minors against this pandemic.

As announced by the Uruguayan President, Luis Lacalle Pou, during an interview on Canal 10 on June 1, young people between 12 and 17 years of age will receive the vaccine from the U.S. laboratory Pfizer to extend the immunization process of the population.

Sources from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) confirmed that, as of yesterday, 157,314 adolescents had entered their data to register in the agenda created by the department and, of them, 69,195 already obtained place and day.

The only differences between this inoculation process and the one developed so far with other age groups are that the signature of the consent form must be made by an adult accompanying the minor to the vaccination center and that the order of administration will be by age and not by registration: firstly, 17 year-olds and from there in descending order up to 12 year-olds.

The National Public Education Authority president, Robert Silva, described the measure as “great news for the country and for education”, as he wrote today on his Twitter account.

The health authorities chose to prioritize this population group to return to classroom classes, which were suspended on March 23 as a way to curb contagions and whose return is being developed progressively. In high schools (secondary education), this would take place after the winter vacation period (July).

As can be seen in the web monitor developed by the MSP, Uruguay has administered 3,085,860 doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 through 6:27 PM local time (21.27 GMT) Tuesday.

Some 30.42% of the population (1,076,196 people) has already completed the immunization process with the two doses of the US Pfizer or Chinese CoronaVac. In addition, 933,468 were inoculated, with the first shot, from either Pfizer, CoronaVac, or the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca.

The latest report of the National Emergency System (Sinae) indicates that Uruguay has accumulated 322,978 cases of Covid-19, of which 34,832 are active, with 4,749 deaths.

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