Latin America is still far from injecting the first vaccines against covid-19 but this week Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica paved the way by giving the green light to the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.
While efforts to get the vaccine, which the United States and Canada began supplying this week, are accelerating, America is still mired in daily tragedy, with nearly 31 million positives for covid and 786,000 cumulative deaths, it reported. this Wednesday the World Health Organization (WHO).
Alerts are hovering over Canada, Panama, Brazil, Colombia and Belize, with the curve on the rise, warned the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa Etienne. The United States is still on an uncontrolled path of infections with the disastrous mark of having overcome the barrier of 300,000 deaths.
Globally, covid-19 positives rose to 71.9 million today, after nearly half a million new cases were reported and deaths remain at 1.6 million, up from 8,400 in the past day.
CLOSER TO IMMUNITY
Chile and Ecuador have today approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine, making it the only two in South America to admit it to curb the virus. They join, in this way, the decisions of Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama that have already authorized the vaccination plan.
In addition, Latin American countries continue to close deals with pharmaceuticals, despite the competitive market. Different is the situation of the United States that boasted this Wednesday of its prominent stocks, which would even allow it to share its “surpluses” with its “allies” in the world.
“Right now we have 900 million doses of the vaccine contracted to be delivered to us, and we have options that increase that to a total of 3 billion doses,” U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Atzar said today at a press.
“We believe that, in fact, we will have surpluses in our supply of vaccines, and that is why the President (Donald Trump) signed a decree committing to take these surpluses, vaccines and manufacturing capacity” and use them “in benefit the world community, “added Atzar.
But Trump’s generosity contrasts with the suspicion he showed in signing another executive order that prevents vaccines produced in the country from being used abroad and that has caused concern in Canada about the possibility of the drug being withheld in the United States. neighboring country.
Canada has received in the last few hours around 30,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, use was approved in the middle of last week, and expects to receive before the end of December a total of 249,000 doses of the serum. In addition, it is continuing its negotiations with Moderna to secure more doses of its vaccine, which it hopes to approve next week.
MULTILATERALISM, THE HOPE OF LATIN AMERICA
Faced with images of the first injections in the north of the continent, Latin America is accelerating agreements with pharmaceuticals and relies on multilateral agencies to ensure access to the antidote as soon as possible.
One such impetus is being given by PAHO, the WHO regional office, which said Wednesday that it is in dialogue with Moderna and Pfizer to ensure universal access to the vaccine in the Americas.
“We already have two producers who have signed agreements to offer a number of vaccines by 2021 and we have two producers in the process of negotiating,” the agency’s deputy director, Jarbas Barbosa, said at the last press conference of the year.
In addition, at least 27 American countries have signed agreements with COVAX – the global platform for preventive vaccine research – to acquire doses from pharmaceutical companies, while nine others will receive it as a donation due to their financial conditions, although not yet you know when.
These agreements represent an important milestone given that nearly a quarter of the world’s population will not have access to the vaccine until at least 2022, according to a study published this week in The BMJ.
THE DANGER OF THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
Access to a vaccine has become more important as the disease hits the continent harder and with the Christmas festivities stepping on the heels of the authorities, who are considering imposing new restrictions.
The Medical College of Peru – a country with 987,675 cases detected and 36,817 deaths – announced that it is evaluating asking the government for a new quarantine to try to prevent a rise in the epidemic during the New Year holidays.
On the other hand, the Government of the Dominican Republic will tighten the restrictions after an increase in cases and Rio de Janeiro definitively canceled its traditional “Reveillon” party in the face of the resurgence of the pandemic.
In Colombia, where pressure is mounting on ICUs, Colombian President Iván Duque ruled out a new mandatory general quarantine, but medical associations warned that individual care of citizens cannot always be appealed to.
In Bogotá, which with 411,689 infections is the region most affected by the pandemic in Colombia, the Mayor’s Office on Tuesday ordered the suspension until January 15, 2021 of surgical procedures of medium or high complexity that are not urgent, as well as those of intermediate complexity requiring hospitalization.
On the other hand, the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, convened his entire cabinet to discuss with his ministers the measures he will announce in the coming hours with a view to reducing the cases, which have skyrocketed in the last few weeks and they already endorse the theory of a “first wave” in the country.