In Mexico, entire cities are refusing Covid-19 vaccines

“Today we launched our vaccination plan and it is not going to stop. We will move forward with the goal of vaccinating all people, according to the pre-established priorities ”, added the president.

But there are already clear signs that not every Mexican is ready or willing to get an injection in the hand.

In Aldama, a small town of about 7,000 people located in the central highlands of the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, some people say they will not be vaccinated, regardless of any vaccination plan or where the vaccine comes from.

“Why would I be vaccinated? I’m not sick. It wouldn’t be good if they tried to force us to be vaccinated. I don’t know,” said María Magdalena López Santís, an Aldama resident at CNN in broken Spanish.

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Indigenous communities like Aldama have a history of distrust towards the federal government. At best, community leaders say, they were ignored. In the worst case, they were subjected to land grabbing, discrimination, abuse and attacks. This time, it seems that the lack of information and the conspiracy theories that spread across the region like wildfire are responsible for the vaccine’s hesitation.

Tomás López Pérez, Aldama’s municipal secretary, told CNN that the people there, including him, strongly believe that vaccines can do more harm than good.

“People are not well informed about this. As we do not know well what vaccines are made of, we believe that they contain the [Covid-19] virus and that’s the main reason why people don’t want to be vaccinated, “said López.

Since many people in these cities communicate in their native dialects, government information about their Covid-19 pandemic strategy is, in many cases, lost in translation.

But, in a way, Aldama was also lucky. Its residents, mainly Mayan tzotzil, rarely travel to large cities and very few people visit them, saving the city from the worst of the pandemic – and making many residents not see the need to be vaccinated.

Local authorities proudly claim that no one here has been infected with the coronavirus, although health officials cannot confirm that claim. Even so, the city closed for several months, at the same time that the federal government imposed restrictions across the country.

Adolfo Victorio López Gómez, mayor of the city of Aldama, told CNN that he also credits traditional medicine for the low impact of Covid-19 in the city and trusts 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,” said López.

Indigenous cities like Aldama are autonomous. The Mexican constitution allows cities like these to govern themselves under the principle of “traditions and customs”.

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In 2018, there were 421 municipalities in Mexico with this designation out of a total of 2,469 (17%). And it is not the only city in southern Mexico where people refuse to be vaccinated.

Earlier this month, José López López, mayor of San Juan Cancuc, another indigenous city located on the central plateau of Chiapas, sent a letter to the state health authorities, informing them of his municipality’s decision to refuse any vaccine.

In the letter, López writes that the municipality of 24,000 inhabitants, made up of 45 communities, held a meeting in late January at which the city’s elders decided that “the vaccination campaign will not be allowed”. The letter also talks about “benefits and possible adverse effects” of the vaccine.

The State Health Department of Chiapas replied that it respects the autonomy of the original populations, although the authorities have insisted that they will continue to promote dialogue with these communities for the sake of everyone’s health.

The governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón, recently focused on discrediting conspiracy theories and falsehoods about the Covid-19 vaccine. “I ask the people of Chiapas not to be a victim of the lie of those who try to take advantage of a health emergency, of those who sell ‘vaccines’ on social networks. Vaccines are not available privately. They are free and will be available to everyone, “ Escandón said on Twitter.
Asked specifically about the refusal of indigenous communities in Chiapas to vaccinate during his daily morning press conference, President López Obrador emphasized that no one will be forced to get the coronavirus vaccine.

“Everything is voluntary,” said the president. “I repeat: nothing by force, but everything by reason and rights. [We must] convince, persuade, inform, guide, raise awareness, without imposing anything ”.

Krupskaia Alís from Mexico City contributed to this report.

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