34 months have passed since the first vaccine against covid-19 was applied to a Guatemalan and since then only 48.01% of the population has been reached with two doses. The country did not achieve the minimum of 70% that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) suggested.
This figure cannot be exceeded, since Guatemala does not have more doses against the coronavirus. The last shipment of the biological that entered and for which there is an official report was in December 2022, 590,400 doses were received, and it was a donation.
Precisely the donations made it possible to bring the biological to the population, since 44.73% of the doses that entered the country were thanks to the international community. While 55% was purchased by the Guatemalan government through the Covax mechanism and Russia, the latter was paid in advance for 8 million doses.
There was enough vaccine to protect the entire population against covid-19, however, 7.7 million doses expired, six out of ten were Sputnik V, which remained in warehouses at the National Center for Biologicals, because the Ministry Public (MP) requested them as a test advance, since the purchase of the biological from the Russians is under investigation.
The investigative entity reported that said hearing would take place on November 17, but when the MP was consulted about whether it took place, the request was not attended to.
For the acquisition of Russian vaccines, the Ministry of Health did not take the recommendation of the National Council of Immunization Practices (Conapi) to buy doses from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, and on the contrary negotiated Sputnik V, which to date do not have WHO endorsement for its emergency use, according to Data Laboratory, has been evidenced in several reports.
Unequal
According to the document Participation of government actors in vaccination against covid-19 in Guatemala prepared by Data Laboratories and Oxfam, between February 2021 and December 31, 2022, 1,524 vaccination posts operated in the country, but these were distributed unevenly since they focused on the capital and urban areas, leaving marginalize the rural population.
This not only limited expanding coverage, in another Data Laboratory analysis it is mentioned that the vaccination model that was applied was not functional at the community level, since it was expected that people would approach the points to receive the doses, however , these spaces were removed from the homes and getting there represented a greater effort, both physically and financially. In addition, registration had to be done online, and in rural areas connectivity is limited, mainly for older adults.
Although the Ministry of Health implemented vaccination brigades to try to reach the communities, it was an effort that arrived “late” and the staff had to face a population that resisted receiving the doses, and one of the reasons was misinformation.
The inequality in vaccination coverage against covid-19 is evident in the numbers. While in the municipality of Guatemala one million 275 thousand 449 people have the complete scheme, in San Lorenzo, Suchitepéquez, only 612 people have both doses.
If we talk about groups by age range, the most reached population was between 60 and 69 years old, although only 68.46% have both vaccines, but at the other extreme are children between 6 and 11 years old, since which was only reached 19.19%.
Children between 6 and 11 years old were the last to be included in the national vaccination program, and they are the least vaccinated. (Free Press Photo: Newspaper Library PL)
The vaccination dashboard of the Ministry of Health also reports that 44.46% of the doses that were applied in Guatemala were Moderna, 22.81% AstraZeneca, 17.6% were Pfizer and 15.13% correspond to Sputnik V, when the existence of these was elderly.
Taking into consideration that no progress has been made in vaccination against covid-19, Óscar Chávez, from the Data Laboratory, mentions that for the coming years the expanded immunization program must be strengthened, since not only was coverage against the coronavirus but also decreased the scope of the other doses (children), in addition to permanently including adult vaccination.
While in relation to the acquisition of the biological he says that it will be important to have bivalent vaccines to protect against the latest variants that have appeared of covid-19, but there must also be doses for children, since the vaccination of those under 18 years of age was an of the most lagging.
“The vaccination strategy that was proposed at the beginning of 2021 was for a very direct campaign at the national level, very aggressive to cover the entire population, now a more permanent plan would have to be worked on in the medium and long term,” he adds.
According to Data Laboratory, the State had funds to address the pandemic, since in 2020 the Central Administration had Q12.4 million. The amount was considerably reduced the following year, by allocating Q5.1 million; In 2022 the resources reached Q1.9 million.
For the acquisition of vaccines in 2021, Q1.5 billion was available, last year there was more than Q1 billion. While in 2023, the budget of the Ministry of Health had an allocation of Q110.4 million, according to the Integrated Accounting System (Sicoin), although there was no purchase of the biological, the portfolio has explained that said funds were used in the efforts for the closing of the country’s participation in the Covax mechanism.
2023-12-21 11:00:34
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