Coronavirus cases in Chile reached record levels despite the launch of vaccines

LONDON – Chile’s coronavirus vaccination campaign has been one of the fastest and most widespread in the world, but a recent rise in infections has raised concerns beyond its borders.

Nearly 40 percent of the total population in the South American country has now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to statistics compiled by Our World in Data, which reflect one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

Only Israel and the United Kingdom, respectively, have inoculated a larger proportion of their population with at least one dose.

However, Chile has suffered a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, even with the launch of world-renowned vaccines and strict blockades for much of its 19 million inhabitants.

The regional director of the Pan American Health Organization has since stressed that for most countries in the region, vaccines will not be enough to prevent rising infection rates.

The number of daily cases in Chile rose to a record high on April 9 and topped 9,000 for the first time since the pandemic began and was significantly higher than the high of nearly 7,000 recorded last summer.

Health Minister Enrique Paris told reporters on Thursday that he hoped the rise in daily cases had reached its highest point.

“Once we reach that peak, we expect not a reduction, but a stabilization, and then a return to a smaller number of positive patients,” he said, according to Reuters.

Health experts say the latest wave of cases in the country has been driven, in part, by more virulent strains of the virus, relaxed public health measures, increased mobility and the challenge of simple precautions. , such as physical distancing and the use of a mask.

The center-right government of Chile, led by President Sebastian Pinera, had ordered the closure of the country’s borders from March to November 2020, although with a few exceptions, before the decision was made to reopen them to international passengers in late last year.

Shops, restaurants and some resorts were also opened to try to boost the country’s pandemic economy.

However, while the implementation of vaccination in the country advanced to the majority, the spread of a more virulent strain of the virus, such as variant P.1, first discovered in travelers from Brazil, has led to a substantial increase. of the cases.

Questions have also been raised about the effectiveness of vaccines, given Chile’s widespread use of CoronaVac, the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Chinese firm Sinovac.

It comes after the head of China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this month that China may need to replace its Covid vaccines or change the way it is administered to make them. sufficiently effective.

“We will solve the problem that current vaccines do not have very high protection rates,” George Gao, general manager of China’s CDC, said at an April 11 conference. He has since told state media that his comments were misinterpreted.

Final phase data for China’s Covid vaccines remain unpublished and available data on the CoronaVac vaccine are varied. Brazilian trials found the vaccine to be just over 50% effective, significantly less effective than Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca, while Turkish researchers have reported an efficacy of up to 83.5%.

A study published by the University of Chile earlier this month reported that CoronaVac had 56.5% effectiveness two weeks after the administration of the second doses in the country. But crucially, they also reported that a dose was only 3% effective.

“This would help explain why Chile, with one of the most robust vaccine implementations in the world, but 93% of doses from China, has experienced a significant simultaneous expansion in cases and a much slower decline in vaccines. hospitalizations and deaths compared to early years deployments in Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States, “said Ian Bremmer, president of risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, in a research note.

“Chile and the United Arab Emirates are considering implementing a third dose (hence, a second booster shot) of the Chinese vaccine accordingly; a change in communications that will increase vaccination of vaccines for Chinese vaccines more broadly, ”Bremmer said.

“I can’t stress it enough: for most countries, vaccines will not stop this wave of pandemics,” Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO, said during a weekly press conference on Wednesday. “There just aren’t enough available to protect everyone in the most at-risk countries.”

Etienne pressured political leaders in the region to implement “comprehensive strategies” to accelerate vaccine deployment and stop transmission through proven public health measures.

On April 14, the Americas reported more than 1.3 million covid infections and nearly 36,000 deaths last week, according to data compiled by the United Nations health agency.

To date, the Americas has recorded 58.8 million cases and more than 1.4 million deaths, making it the most affected region in the world.

“We don’t act like a region in the midst of a worsening outbreak,” said Etienne of PAHO, who described South America as the “epicenter” of the virus.

In addition to the relaxed restrictions in some areas, Etienne said new highly transmissible variants of the virus had caused a sharp acceleration of cases. At present, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and some areas of Bolivia report a sharp increase in infections.

Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile are also experiencing a steady increase in Covid cases, Etienne said.