SANTIAGO – Chile president Sebastián Piñera has announced how the vaccination plan will be in the South American country after the arrival of 6,000 doses of vaccines from the Sinovac laboratory was confirmed on Wednesday, to begin phase 3 clinical trials with the aim of immunizing 14 million Chileans.
“Today the first vaccines arrived from the Sinovac laboratory, these trials are added to those of the University of Chile. And additionally, today, the ISP (Institute of Public Health) approved the performance of a third clinical trial that will be developed by the University of Chile and Las Condes Clinics, in conjunction with the AstraZeneca laboratory and the University of Oxford,” Piñera said in an address the other day.
[VIVO] Pdte @sebastianpinera encabeza reunión por estudios de vacunas contra el Covid19 #EnsayosClínicosC19 https://t.co/uL2bpX0g8J
— Prensa Presidencia de Chile (@presidencia_cl) November 4, 2020
The head of state announced that, once the vaccine is approved, the vaccination plan will be carried out in three stages during the first months of 2021: emergency vaccination, vaccination of risk groups and vaccination of the entire target population, where he expressed “We want to reach 14 million people.”
Likewise, the president announced that Chile is part of the Covax International Alliance, a coalition made up of 172 countries that seek to ensure the presence of vaccines in poor nations.
“This agreement allows us to access 7.6 million doses of vaccines,” he explained.
Similarly, Piñera reported that weeks ago his government signed an agreement with the Pfizer Biotech laboratory in order to be able to access 10 million vaccines against Covid-19, along with obtaining other additional doses through the Oxford University, AstraZeneca Laboratory, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, and Sinovac.
On the other hand, he recalled that vaccines are subject to the approval of international organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, as well as the authorization of the ISP in his country.
Chile, a population of over 19 million, has so far reported 516,582 cases of coronavirus, since March 3. More than 14,400 people have died while 493,250 people have recovered from the illness. There are currently 8,928 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 725 considered serious.
