Uneven vaccination against coronavirus in Latin America

by Alvaro Galvan Cardenas

Countries have already developed their vaccination strategy: some have started it, while others have not yet received the first doses

The coronavirus vaccine was one of the most desired objectives by the population. Several companies have already developed different doses to combat a pandemic that has been around for more than a year. Now, the focus is on the strategy to be followed to vaccinate millions and millions of citizens in the longest possible time. The United States, Europe and Israel accelerate vaccination, which involves administering two doses. However, in Latin American countries the situation varies greatly from one country to another.

And, while some nations have already started vaccinating their population, others have not even received the first doses. However, all are prepared to administer the doses they manage to receive, helped by the Covax initiative. It is a plan devised by the World Health Organization to ensure the supply of vaccines to all regions, regardless of their financial solvency.

Following up on the countries, there are those that began to vaccinate months ago, others recently, and others that have not begun vaccination.

Thus, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Puerto Rico began to vaccinate last December, with Argentina being the country that has received the most doses. For their part, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Panama began to vaccinate in early 2021, in January, when they received the first doses. More recently, in February, they began administering vaccines in Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. And finally, those countries that have not yet begun to vaccinate their citizens are Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.

In all the countries in which the administration of doses has begun, the most applied vaccine has been Sputnik V, from Russia. In the case of Argentina, it has already received more than 1,200,000 of this Russian vaccine, while Mexico has signed an agreement to acquire up to 24 million doses of Sputnik V from February to May.

Álvaro Galván Cárdenas has a degree in journalism from the University of Seville, a Master’s degree in investigative, data and visualization journalism from the International University of La Rioja and is currently a doctoral student in communication. He collaborated with Triana Digital and SportHD and, eventually, with ABC de Sevilla. He joined the CNY Latino newspaper contributors in February 2021. If you want to provide comments or have questions you can connect directly with him by email at alvarogalvancardenas@gmail.com