Thousands of Nicaraguans prefer to cross into Honduras by illegal steps, on foot, on horses, motorcycle taxis and rafts, to get vaccinated with Pfeizer or Moderna, than to inoculate in their own country with the Cuban vaccines and Russian, not approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) not even Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), publishes Infobae.
Javier López Moreno, a Nicaraguan interviewed by the media, said that at four in the morning he left with six other young people from Chinandega, located 138 kilometers from the capital, Managua, in a rented vehicle to the El Guasaule border post.
On the Honduran side, a vaccination post against Covid-19 has been installed that serves Nicaraguans. They tried to cross with the permission of Nicaraguan customs officials, but they were not allowed. They did it for a “blind spot”, illegally, but when they arrived at the vaccination post they saw that they could not be vaccinated that day.
“Thousands of Nicaraguans were there. I estimate that the line was about 20 blocks“, relates López Moreno.
According to the Ministry of Health of Honduras, This week alone, some 35,000 Nicaraguans have been vaccinated with the first dose of Pfizer and Modern, appointment Infobae.
Since the beginning of October, thousands have been arriving in Honduras in search of safe vaccines against the coronavirus. It is a spontaneous and unofficial population movement, mainly of young people.
At first the lines were small, and vaccination times short. But as more Nicaraguans began to arrive, border posts became crowded and difficulties increased. Still, they keep coming.
“In Honduras we make sure to be vaccinated by Pfizer or Moderna, which are vaccines recognized by world and American institutions such as PAHO or WHO.“, declared to Infobae, on condition of anonymity, a father of a family who went with his children to get vaccinated in Honduras.
“It takes a very short intelligence to allow our minors to be vaccinated with those Cuban Sovereign vaccines and I do not know what other that have not been approved by the WHO or by PAHO, “he argued.
The Nicaraguan government began this week to apply Cuban vaccines Sovereign and Abdalá 1 and 2 in children and adolescents between two and 17 years old, while those between 18 and 30 began to supply the Russian Sputnik Light.
Independent doctors organized in the Association of Nicaraguan Doctors in Exile (AMEN) warned in a statement that Cuban vaccines being applied by the Ministry of Health (Minsa) are still in the experimental phase and there is no scientific evidence to support their safe use and effect checked. They consider that its use “becomes an experiment that violates bioethical norms.”
“In the case of Russian vaccines, at least these have published phase III research studies, this is not the case of Cuban vaccines, which are still in the experimental phase,” adds the statement, cited by Infobae.
In addition to distrust of Cuban and Russian vaccines, the majority of those interviewed by Infobae claimed a practical reason for crossing into Honduras to inoculate with Pfeizer or Moderna: The United States and many other countries do not accept Cuban vaccines for now and russian that are placed in Nicaragua, to allow entry to their territories.
“The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that they put in Honduras are among the best in the world and will be useful for traveling,” explains a former deputy who also went with his family to get vaccinated in the neighboring country.
Another reason is that, until a few days ago, only those over 30 could be vaccinated in Nicaragua. For this reason, most of the Nicaraguans seen in line are young.
Nicaraguans’ interest in traveling to Honduras to get vaccinated has led to advertisements on social media offering travel packages, for prices ranging from $ 25 to $ 39.
This option, which apparently exonerates those who go to Honduras to get vaccinated from dangers, can turn into a bad experience, as happened to 21-year-old Samantha Jirón.
“My personal experience was somewhat difficult, because I decided to go on a private excursion, for fear of going alone and transferring, but it turns out that the person in charge of this excursion took advantage of the situation and the need to vaccinate many, charging triple the price of other excursions. I realized until I was there and we had to accept the group’s conditions and even the mistreatment of this person, “he told Infobae.
But once at the vaccination point, the attention of the Honduran health personnel was “excellent, very warm and fast,” described Jirón, who claims to have participated as a volunteer filling out cards, “because Honduran doctors go through the line asking who you can vaccinate and help assist to finish faster. “
“I decided to get vaccinated in Honduras because like me there are thousands of Nicaraguans who do not trust the Nicaraguan health system and we know that The decision to apply the Sputnik Light, Sovereign and Abdala vaccine is not for the benefit of the population, it is for the benefit of relations of the only countries that support the dictatorship. In addition to obviously not having the approval of the WHO“explained the young woman.
According to the Public File portal, “Between May 2020 and March 2021, Nicaragua received seven loans from multilateral organizations to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, for a total amount of 523.1 million dollars “. This quantity does not include another 353.5 million dollars that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursed to Nicaragua “to face the economic impact generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and to strengthen its international reserves “last August.
A Nicaraguan doctor consulted by Infobae He regretted that the government has allocated a large part of the money received to buy vaccines for Cuba and Russia, “more for political reasons than scientific reasons.”
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