Installation of 1300 vaccination centers nationwide + Early purchase of China’s Sinovac vaccine
[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Choi Won-jin = Chile, a country that stretches up and down in the South American continent, is vaccinated by more than one person per 100 people per day on average, and the world is paying attention to the secret. It is the world’s number one country in terms of the speed of COVID-19 vaccination alone.
According to’Our World in Data’, a statistical site at Oxford University in the UK, as of the 8th (local time), Chile receives an average of 1.67 vaccinations per 100 people per day.
This means that more than 1% of the population gets the vaccine per day. It surpassed Israel (1.20 doses), which is known as the No. 1 country for vaccination, and in Korea, it is only 0.13 doses per 100 people.
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| Daily chart of COVID-19 vaccination doses per 100 population. [자료= 아워 월드 인 데이터] |
In terms of cumulative vaccine administration, Chile is also in the ranks of’vaccine advanced countries’. The cumulative share of vaccinations per 100 people in Chile is 25.89%, after Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom and the United States. This means that more than 25 people received at least one vaccination per 100 people.
Chile, which started the former national corona 19 vaccination on February 3rd, has injected more than 3 million people in less than 21 days. The government expects that 15 million people will be vaccinated within the first quarter of this year, and collective immunity will be formed by the end of June.
At the end of May last year, how did Chile, with a population of 19 million, which had the world’s highest corona19 infection rate per population, became an advanced country for vaccination? The secret lies in the government’s quick response.
First, more than 1,300 vaccination centers were installed nationwide. In addition, the government desperately entered into a vaccine pre-purchase contract from May last year.
President Sebastian Pinera appointed Rodrigo Yanez, Vice Minister of International Trade, as the head of purchase contract negotiations with various pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, which were in the midst of developing the Corona 19 vaccine at the time. Vice Minister Yanez also visited the vaccine development site, and as a result, in December, he had already secured a total of 36 million doses of Sinovac vaccine in China and Pfizer-Bioentech vaccine.
In some cases, President Pinera made a direct call to Chinese President Xi Jinping, an effort to reduce unnecessary bureaucratic procedures for vaccine supply. Instead of providing a clinical trial site for the Sinovac vaccine, Chile could secure 60 million doses of vaccine at an affordable price. If additional vaccines are needed, it has the right to negotiate priority with China’s Sinobaek.
Chile signed a vaccine contract with Pfizer-Bioentech last the same month. In the case of Pfizer vaccine, there were no clinical trials in Chile, but thanks to the fast purchase reservation by the Vice Minister Yanez negotiator, it became one of the primary vaccine suppliers. The amount of Pfizer vaccine that arrived on Christmas Eve was 20,000 doses. Medical staff were able to get the priority vaccination before the New Year 2021. Chile agreed to receive an additional 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccine within the first quarter.
Chile has also secured 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. The first delivery is expected in April-May. In addition, the government has approved a clinical trial for CanSino in China in Korea, and is negotiating a contract to purchase Sputnik V vaccine in Russia.
Experts agree that when other countries are hesitant to obtain a vaccine, the Chilean government has quickly started to obtain a vaccine through various channels.
“Chile didn’t hesitate to sign a contract with Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or anyone else,” said Dr. Elmer Huerta, a health policy expert in Latin America. I got it,” he diagnosed. He added that politicians left the conflict between political parties behind and ended the corona 19 crisis as one under a common goal.
“The politically divided Chilean government made decisions based on practicality rather than bureaucracy.” “The ISP, which passed the authority to use vaccines and medicines, sent employees to the Synovac vaccine manufacturing facility.”
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| [산티아고 로이터=뉴스핌] Reporter Kim Sun-mi = A medical practitioner is getting the Pfizer-Bioentech Corona 19 vaccine at Posta Central Hospital in Santiago, Chile. 2021.01.15 [email protected] |