October 17, 2023
75% of the posts were less than a kilometer from the main road. The information comes from the atlas prepared by the Data Laboratory.
During the pandemic, Juan Cuc and Patrocinia Caal traveled from the health center to different communities in Chisec in search of people to whom they could administer the Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Oliver de Ros.
By Mariajosé Spain
During the pandemic, 1,509 vaccination posts were enabled. Whether there were many or few, the most important thing was to know where they were placed, since their location was key to reaching people with doses against covid-19.
According to him vaccination atlas created by Data Laboratory, 75% of these were less than a kilometer from main roads. Your director’s reading, Oscar Chavezis that the more distant communities had less access to health services.
The vaccination posts stopped working despite the fact that 7.78 million available doses were not administered and expired. In 2022, Guatemala stopped purchasing coronavirus vaccines.
Guatemala did not meet the goal imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), that of immunizing 70% of the population. The country was very far from achieving it with only 41% of people with a complete vaccination schedule, the atlas states.
And now with expired vaccines. There are plans – that is, plans – to purchase, she told Ojoconmipisto the Minister of Health, Francisco Coma. “…I hope that in the very short term we can report that they are available,” the official announced, although his ministry refrained from reporting how many vaccines he will buy and from whom.
From that March 13, 2020, when the first case of the disease was confirmed and the country was declared a national emergency, 43 months passed. Today it is possible to identify the most abandoned populations and where inequality is felt most.
One vaccination center per municipality
On April 4, 2020, the first community case was recorded in Patzún, Chimaltenango. Following the diagnosis of this person, the municipality was locked down under strict measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Ministry of Health established an epidemiological cordon in this municipality made up of agents from the National Civil Police (PNC), the Army and the Municipal Police who patrolled the streets to prevent people from going out and infecting more people.
However, when it was time to send vaccines to the population, it only enabled one center in this place. In Patzún, 58.3% of the population was vaccinated with a complete schedule.
You can click here and go to Covid-19 Vaccination Atlas in Guatemala
“We were the first municipality to be locked up for a community case. The working population of Patzún in other departments was discriminated against for this issue and some were fired from their jobs,” he recalled. Marta Ajuneighbor of the municipality.
He accused the mayor of not offering accurate information for the vaccination campaign, in general, of mishandling the pandemic. There were people who chose not to be immunized due to these lack of communication.
According to the criteria of the Ministry of Public Health, each vaccination post had the capacity to serve around 34 thousand people. However, in municipalities such as Joyabaaj, Quiché, where the population is 113,217, only had one center. While Cobán, Alta Verapaz, with twice as many inhabitants, had seven, recorded the Covid-19 Vaccination Atlas of Guatemala.
In Chisec, Patrocinia Caal went from house to house to administer eight doses and not waste a vial of vaccines. If she didn’t find anyone interested, she would check who had the second dose to look for them. Photo: Oliver de Ross.
Keyla Sum, a nurse in Alta Verapaz, confirmed that the poor accessibility of services prevented achieving the goal. Together with the WHO they implemented the strategy Health on wheels which consisted of mobilizing brigades in vehicles all the way to reach the most distant communities.
This helped increase coverage in the department. “The vaccine was available, but access to them was one of the barriers. They were the distances, the bad roads and the location of the centers,” explained the anthropologist, Isolda Fortinwho also participated in Health on wheels.
The brigades were made up of nurses who offered a comprehensive service to the homes where they arrived. That is, they did not limit themselves to giving covid vaccines but took the opportunity to identify cases of malnutrition, care for pregnant women and provide vaccination schedules for children and adults.
The pandemic showed once again that access to front-line health services is still far away. The State lacks resources to fulfill people’s right to health.
In Alta Verapaz the program was institutionalized Health on wheels, In the rest of the country the system remains in debt.
In case you missed our special The vaccines speak Spanish
*This publication is part of the project “Vaccination gaps against covid-19 in Guatemala” by Data Laboratory and Oxfam Central America.
2023-10-17 17:31:43
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