President Alejandro Giammattei continues to carry out departmental work tours and this Saturday he arrived in Retalhuleu, where he gave some statements in which he indicated that more vaccines are expected to enter this month; both purchased and donated.
One of the questions was the investment that the country has made for the acquisition of vaccines, due to the millionaire donations that have been obtained, and in an annoyed tone he replied “¿¿Do you think donations come from the sky? It is not like that, because it takes work to manage them, ”said the president, referring to the vaccines against covid-19 that several countries have delivered to Guatemala..
–
There is an inaudible part of his answer because during the transmission of the Government of Guatemala the audio of the president was silenced.
Giammattei added that if anyone wanted to know how many millions Guatemala has spent on vaccines against the coronavirus, they should consult the Minister of Health, Francisco Coma.
Third booster dose for teachers and first line
Giammattei also announced that he already has the offer of the donation of four million vaccines from a country, of which he did not provide details, but assured that half of this donation will arrive this year and the rest next year and will serve as a booster dose or a third dose for teachers and health personnel in the front line in attention to the coronavirus.
“We are going to work on the schedules for the third dose as soon as we have reached six months after starting the vaccination, we consider with the priority groups to cover them with a third dose, with a reinforcement known as a booster, so that we can make sure that people remain healthy and we can return to classes in person on February 15 ”, he indicated that the reinforcement would apply to teachers, frontline and public hospital staff, as well as private health centers.
In December 2021, the first line would begin, while in the case of teachers it would be in January 2022, to ensure the return to face-to-face classes on February 15.
“There are vaccines, arms are missing”
And although in the metropolitan area there have been kilometers of queues, mainly of people seeking the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, Giammattei affirmed that Retalhuleu has vaccines of all brands and vaccinators, but that “arms” are needed, because only 38 % of the population of that department has been vaccinated.
He stressed that after 15 days of having applied the first dose, immunity levels increase and that is why it is necessary to place the second no later than a month later.
Although there is now a shortage of Pfizer vaccines, with which it seeks to cover children from 12 to 17 years old, Giammattei added that one million more vaccines will arrive that are independent of the 2.5 million that will arrive in the country on November 15 through of the Covax mechanism, he assured that the entry of 1.5 million more is expected “with that we ensure that we vaccinate all children between 12 and 17 years old.”
ALSO READ: How long can the second dose of Pfizer for minors be postponed?
Vaccinations in Guatemala
Guatemala has 12 million 450 thousand 420 doses of vaccines against the coronavirus, of these, 6 million 332 thousand 100 doses have been donated by Israel, India, Spain, the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic; However, the country that has donated the most significant number of vaccines is the United States, with two batches that totaled 4.5 million Moderna.
So far Guatemala has only bought 6 million 118 thousand 320 vaccines, which have been acquired through the Covax mechanism and from Russia, where it bought Sputnik V.
Graphic: Ministry of Health of Guatemala
Giammattei’s statements
–
–
