“Today we have launched our vaccination plan and it will not stop. We will continue to move forward with the goal of vaccinating all people, in line with pre-established priorities,” the president added.
But there are already clear indications that not all Mexicans are ready or willing to be shot in the arm.
“Why would I get vaccinated? I’m not sick. It wouldn’t be good if they tried to force us to get vaccinated. I don’t know,” María Magdalena López Santís, a resident of Aldama on CNN, said in broken Spanish.
Indigenous communities like Aldama have a history of mistrust of the federal government. At best, according to community leaders, they have been ignored. In the worst case, they have been the subject of arrests, discrimination, abuse and assault. This time, it seems that the lack of information and conspiracy theories that have spread in the region like gunpowder are to blame for the hesitation.
Tomás López Pérez, Aldama’s municipal secretary, told CNN that people there, including himself, firmly believe that vaccines can do more harm than good.
“People are not well informed about this. Because we don’t really know what vaccines are made of, we think they contain [Covid-19] virus and that’s the main reason people don’t want to get vaccinated, ”Lopez said.
Because many people in these villages communicate in their native dialects, government information about their Covid-19 pandemic strategy is lost, in many cases, in translation.
But in a way, Aldama has also been lucky. Its residents, mostly Tzotzil Mayans, rarely travel to big cities and few people ever visit, saving the city the worst of the pandemic, meaning many residents don’t see the need to get vaccinated.
Local officials proudly claim that no one here has been infected with the coronavirus, although health officials were unable to confirm that claim. However, the city closed for several months, at the same time as the federal government imposed restrictions across the country.
Adolfo Victorio López Gómez, mayor of Aldama, told CNN that he also accredits traditional medicine for the low impact of Covid-19 in the city and is confident in its effectiveness.
“Fortunately, we have our ancestral way of thinking about traditional medicine and we asked our grandparents and great-grandparents for guidance and that helped us a lot,” Lopez said.
Indigenous cities like Aldama are autonomous. The Mexican constitution allows cities like these to be governed under the principle of “traditions and customs.”
In 2018, there were 421 municipalities in Mexico with this designation out of a total of 2,469 (17%). And it’s not the only city in southern Mexico where people refuse to get vaccinated.
Earlier this month, José López López, mayor of San Juan Cancuc, another indigenous people located in the central highlands of Chiapas, sent a letter to state health authorities informing them of his municipality’s decision to reject any vaccine.
The Chiapas State Health Department responded that it respects the autonomy of the original populations, although officials insisted that they will continue to promote dialogue with these communities for the health of all.
“Everything is voluntary,” the president said. “I repeat: nothing by force, but all by reason and by rights. [We must] convincing, persuading, informing, guiding, raising awareness, without imposing anything “.
Krupskaia Alís in Mexico City contributed to this report.