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- BBC News World
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Image source, Getty Images
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Ecuador declared vaccination against covid-19 mandatory due to the rise in infections caused by the omicron variant, announced the Ministry of Health of the South American country.
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“This decision was taken due to the current epidemiological status, that is, the increase in infected and the circulation of new variants of concern,” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
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The regulation “obeys” the variant spreading faster than its predecessors, the government said.
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The Ministry claimed to have the necessary reserves to immunize the entire population.
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People with any medical condition or contraindication will not have to be vaccinated.
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According to the Ministry, the Organic Health Law allows vaccination to be declared as a requirement in the face of “certain diseases, under the terms and conditions that the national and local epidemiological reality requires”.
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The Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, defended the statute according to local media.
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“We have relied on the laws to take these measures”, He said.
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According to the newspaper El Comercio, he added: “It is because we want to protect the health of all Ecuadorians.”
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The minister said that they are evaluating data on the possible community contagion of the variant in the country.
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As of Tuesday, December 21, 12.4 million people had full doses of the vaccine in Ecuador, representing 77.2% of its 16 million inhabitants.
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Ecuadorians face an increase in infections after the celebration of the Day of the Dead, Account Independence and the Quito Foundation.
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An average of 510 daily cases are reported in Ecuador, according to Reuters. The figure represents 22% of the peak of infections registered in May, when the highest average number of daily cases was registered.
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