Chile’s vaccination campaign reaches the icy continent of Antarctica

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s high-speed vaccination program hit the icy shores of Antarctica, officials and researchers told Reuters on Wednesday, bringing a sense of relief to one of the most isolated and vulnerable outposts on Earth .

The pandemic hit Antarctica in December, making it the last of the continents in the world to report an outbreak of COVID-19. Chilean health and army officials struggled to evacuate personnel from a remote region with limited medical facilities.

Marcela Andrade, an employee of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), told Reuters by phone that Air Force personnel, followed by staff from Profesor Julio Escudero’s research base, were inoculated on Sunday with China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine.

She said the fear of the outbreak several months ago was well managed, but a reminder of the importance of rapid vaccination in such a remote and relentless location.

“It is a relief,” said Andrade, who said that workers in the isolated region are at particular risk. “We don’t have flights or ships leaving here every day. It is complicated to transport people who (are sick) or are a risk to others ”.

The base is located on remote King George Island, the largest of the Shetland Islands off the coast of Antarctica. The researchers count as close neighbors several species of seals, penguins and fish-eating seabirds.

Chile has jumped ahead of much of Latin America and the world in its vaccination program, and has inoculated most of the frontline health professionals, military and elderly. But an increase in the number of contagions across the country has brought hospitals to the brink of collapse and forced further restrictions on the movement. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)

Andrade said Chile’s decision to vaccinate workers in Antarctica was much appreciated and timely. She said that a shift of workers was scheduled to leave for the mainland in mid-April, and that she would breathe better with the vaccine applied.

“Looking at the situation in the country and in the world, it is a total relief to return to the continent with a little protection,” she said.