Go nine months forward and Chile will be in a totally different category. While some Latin American countries like Nicaragua have not yet received any vaccines, the Andean nation of 19 million had already given more than one million doses of the vaccine by February 9. It reached two million on Monday and the rate of vaccination continues to improve.
It is doing even better than the European Union (5.19) and China (2.82) and its rate is four times better than that of Brazil, which has the second best rate in Latin America (2.77), according to Oxford University data “Our World in Data” database.
How did Chile manage to change things so dramatically?
According to Chile’s Minister of Health, Dr. Enrique Paris, the country has either acquired or is in the process of receiving 10 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and another 10 million from Sinovac. Subsequently, the country closed agreements with Covax (WHO), Johnson & Johnson and Astrazeneca to reach a total of 35.7 million.
CNNE’s collaborating doctor, Dr. Elmer Huerta, a specialist in public health and health policy in Latin America, says that this multifaceted strategy has been very successful. “Chile did not hesitate to close contracts with Sinovac, Pfizer or AstraZeneca. The secret was that very early Chile realized that it was necessary to close several deals with vaccine manufacturers. In Latin America, Chile is one of the countries best positioned to do business and this has given an advantage “, said Huerta.
And then, Chilean authorities have been busy, turning any possible public space into a vaccination center. CNN recently visited a courtyard on the campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. A space where you would normally see college students mixing has been converted into a highly organized and efficient clinic, one of many Covid-19 vaccination centers across the country.
Gabriela Valderrama, a resident of Santiago who had her photo taken on the college campus, described the process as “fantastic” and “very well organized. I think it’s phenomenal that they have different days for different age groups,” she said.
In addition to schools and government buildings, health officials have opened vaccination posts across the country in places like shopping malls and football stadiums.
“It is one thing to buy a vaccine and have it available, and quite another to inject it into people’s arms. That’s logistics. Chile had an excellent distribution and vaccination. It opened a vaccination post in strategic places close to and convenient for people, unlike the United States, where we started vaccinating people in hospitals and large places where people quickly gathered, “said Dr. Huerta.
Edgardo Cruz, a 71-year-old Santiago resident who had his first chance on the website of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, says he is proud of the effort made so far.
“We are an international model now. I think it’s buying vaccines and investing [in purchases] since May it has been a worthwhile effort, “said Cruz.
A unified message about top-down social detachment from the government and wearing masks didn’t hurt either.
President Sebastián Piñera himself, 71, and therefore eligible to receive the injection last week, took the opportunity to mark his position … wearing a mask, of course.
“I would like to let my fellow citizens know that this vaccine is safe, it is effective and that we have made a huge effort to inoculate all Chileans, all citizens of our country,” he said after receiving the first injection of the Chinese medicine Vaccine Sinovac that will be followed by a second on March 15.
“Chile also put politics aside. The country’s politicians realized that Covid-19 was the enemy and reduced tensions between political parties, working together towards the unified goal of controlling the pandemic,” said Huerta.
After health professionals, the focus was on the elderly. teachers, pharmacists and police officers became eligible on Monday.
At under 19 million, the relatively small size of Chile’s population is also an advantage. This means that each vaccine goes further towards the goal of national herd immunity, especially when compared to larger populations such as those in Brazil, China or the European Union.
The Ministry of Health’s goal is to vaccinate five million people by the end of March and four out of five Chileans before the end of the first half of 2021.
Journalist Nicolás Cortés Guerrero contributed from Santiago.