Status: 19.03.2021 5:02 a.m.
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Chile has managed what countries like Germany are currently desperate for: an efficient and broad vaccination campaign to leave the pandemic behind as quickly as possible. Unbureaucratic solutions are also part of the recipe for success.
By Matthias Ebert,
ARD studio South America
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The city park “Juan Pablo II” is a place of relaxation for the inhabitants of the Chilean capital Santiago in normal times – with a playground, sculptures and a pond with a fountain. But these are not normal times – and so the park was quickly converted into a vaccination center.
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Matthias Ebert
ARD-Studio Rio de Janeiro
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Now there are numerous chairs, spaced apart on the green lawn, on which elderly Chileans wait impatiently for the syringe that promises them a return to normal life. “That works really well and is probably due to our efficiency,” speculates the Chilean Mili Fierro, who has just been vaccinated.
It is currently the turn of the 50 to 60 year olds. Up to 90 patients can be treated at the same time in the city park “Juan Pablo II”. What is currently happening in all of Chile is not only unbureaucratic, but also efficient. The narrow country between the Andean Cordillera and the Pacific is currently vaccinating faster than any other country in the world. The vaccines are not only administered in parks, but also in schools, churches and stadiums.
Not only nursing staff are used, but also midwives and dentists. In this way, Chile has recently even overtaken the vaccination pioneer Israel as the fastest vaccinating country in the world, as the “Our World in Data” program at Oxford University has determined.
A church as a vaccination center: This is also currently common in Chile.
Image: dpa
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The difference to Brazil
This makes Chile – unlike most countries in South America and Europe – a good vaccine model and should soon leave the worst pandemic problems behind. While Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro until recently expressed himself entirely skeptical of vaccinations and failed to conclude enough vaccine contracts early on, more than a fifth of the population in Chile has already received the first vaccination dose.
Special risk groups should be vaccinated by the end of March, and 80 percent of the population by June. Brazil – but also Germany – are unlikely to reach this goal until much later.
Vaccination in transit: such a center was set up in a stadium parking lot in Santiago.
Bild: AP
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Pandemic initially underestimated
Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera can book his country’s vaccine campaign as a great success that could make the much-criticized start of the pandemic forget. At that time, in the first half of 2020, the government of Chile ordered far-reaching quarantine measures late. As a result, the virus spread quickly because, in the middle of the pandemic, many domestic workers had to commute to work in fully occupied public transport for weeks.
Strict lockdown rules then applied to individual districts. This drove worried residents onto the streets in May. They threw stones at police officers and complained of a lack of government support. At that time poverty rose rapidly; many people were dependent on food donations from soup kitchens.
The streets in Santiago were deserted in March 2020 when the government imposed a complete lockdown.
Image: AFP
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Vaccinations as a matter for the boss
When it comes to vaccination, on the other hand, the state recognized early on how important a professional campaign is. A separate staff was entrusted with this in the first half of 2020, which worked closely with the Presidential Palace. Vaccination has become a top priority so that there are no delays.
In addition, large quantities of vaccines from several manufacturers were ordered early on. This was not new territory for Chile, which is closely involved in international trade with its numerous free trade agreements. Vaccination doses from BioNTech / Pfizer and Sinovac from China are now available, as will the preparations from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca soon.
Lessons are important, but so is vaccinations: in a school in Santiago, people are waiting to get their injections.
Image: dpa
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Early vaccination plans drawn up
From the point of view of Sonia Moreno, the director of a vaccination center in the “La Florida” district, the preparation for the vaccination was also ideal: “After enough vaccines had been bought, the health sector was involved early on. Even before the vaccines had arrived, we had detailed information Receive vaccination plans and all necessary information. ”
Now Moreno is in a school that does not currently have any present teaching. 50 to 60-year-old risk patients who are receiving their first dose are arriving here. Pedro Ferrer is waiting for his syringe. He expresses what most Chileans are currently thinking: “The fact that we are the world leader in vaccination is good news after so much bad news.”
If you disregard a few locally increasing incidence values in some districts of Santiago de Chile, the pandemic balance should be positive in the middle of the year. The economy can fully recover if the Chilean government achieves its goal: vaccinating 80 percent of the population by June.
The sports fields of schools are also used for vaccinations.
Bild: AP
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Chile as vaccination world champion
Ivo Marusczyk, ARD Buenos Aires, 3/18/2021 · 11:37 AM
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