Chile Approves Use of Pfizer's Covid-19 Vaccine
December 16 2020 - 12:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Ryan Dube
Chilean health officials on Wednesday approved the use of
Pfizer's vaccine against Covid-19, the second country in Latin
America to approve it.
The Public Health Institute's committee of experts voted
overwhelmingly to approve the vaccine as the country begins to see
an uptick in new coronavirus cases that have raised fears of a
second wave of infection, prompting a new lockdown in the capital
of Santiago. Mexico was the first country in Latin America to give
the green light to Pfizer's vaccine.
"This is excellent news for the country," said Heriberto Garcia,
the director of Chile's Public Health Institute. "Chile is on the
vanguard."
Chilean health officials have recently said they hope to begin
to vaccinate before year-end, providing the first shots to health
workers, police and military officials, as well as people at
high-risk if infected with the deadly pathogen. The country hopes
to vaccinate about a million people by March, a government minister
said.
Chile has been hard hit by the pandemic, reporting more than
570,000 cases and about 16,000 deaths in the country of 18 million
people. The government announced last week a partial lockdown for
Santiago, including restrictions on movement during weekends, to
stem a rise in new coronavirus infections.
President Sebastián Piñera said the government's advances in
securing the Covid-19 vaccine would help life return to normal.
"This is going to allow us to better control the coronavirus
pandemic and to recover our liberties," he said recently.
Chile signed a contract with Pfizer to receive about 10 million
doses of its vaccine, which would cover some 5 million people. The
country is also expected to receive vaccines from China's Sinovac,
which is currently conducting a clinical trial in Chile.
Chile's vaccination plans are more advanced than other South
American countries. Peru has an agreement with Pfizer to receive
about 9 million doses, but has yet to sign a contract or make a
payment to secure those vaccines, government officials said
recently. It doesn't expect to begin vaccinations until about the
second quarter of 2021.
-- Maolis Castro contributed to this article.
Write to Ryan Dube at ryan.dube@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 16, 2020 12:08 ET (17:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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