Coronavirus and the luxury ‘anticovid’ measure: Latin American countries that already apply a third vaccine dose

Is it ethical for countries that have used a large number of coronavirus vaccines to protect their population, to apply a third vaccine while there are still unprotected people?

Although many countries in the world have just begun their vaccination process against the coronavirus and in Latin America and the Caribbean a few are just making progress in the first and second doses, there are three nations in the region that have already begun to administer a third booster injection against the virus that causes covid-19 and a fourth nation announced that it will apply it to people with immunodeficiency.

The third dose is already applied in the Dominican Republic, Chile and Uruguay, in order, according to their authorities, to have extra protection against new variants, such as Delta, which the World Health Organization (WHO) classified as a «variant of concern”, because it is more contagious than previous strains and can cause more severe symptoms.

The Dominican Republic was the first country in the region to begin applying a third dose against the coronavirus, with a schedule that began on July 1, reports a RT dispatch.

In a conference held on June 30, in which the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, was present, the national authorities, together with the country’s medical societies, pointed out that the motivation for applying a third dose is the emergence of new mutations of the coronavirus «eight times more contagious».

The president said that «there is an international consensus that a booster dose is needed». In that press conference, it was specified that the third dose would be applied one month after a person had the full schedule with the Sinovac vaccine and three months after having done it with the AstraZeneca drug.

The campaign was first aimed at health personnel and people with comorbidity, but then the authorities extended the call to the rest of the population to be vaccinated with this booster dose. The difference with the first two injections is that this is voluntary.

According to data from the National Vaccination Plan, until August 15, that is, a month and a half after the schedule began, 521,505 people have received the booster dose, including Abinader.

These are added to the 10,656,985 doses that have been applied in the Caribbean country, where 4,462,896 people (about 60% of its population) have completed their immunization process with the two doses that were established at the beginning of the National Plan of Vaccination.

Coronavirus in Chile: «This reinforcement will protect us better»

In Chile, the application of the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine started last Wednesday, August 11.

A week earlier, the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, made the announcement of this plan that – he said – in a first stage would be applied as a reinforcement to people over 55 who already have two components of Sinovac.

«This reinforcement will protect us better, including the Delta variant, and will give us greater freedoms and opportunities», he said at the time.

According to data from the Chilean Ministry of Health, in this South American country, 83.37% of the target population has been immunized with a complete schedule. Specifically, 25,711,744 doses have been administered, of which 13,548,311 correspond to people with a single and first dose, and 12,673,225 who have already completed their immunization process.

Regarding the reinforcement, only on Monday, August 16, 151,518 doses were administered, in addition to the 258,535 that had been applied until the previous day, which gives a total of 410,053.

Uruguay: «It is possible to offer a new dose»

Uruguay is the third country in the region to vaccinate its population with a third booster dose against the coronavirus, with a campaign that began on Monday, August 16.

The Uruguayan plan is to apply the booster dose with the Pfizer vaccine to those immunized with CoronaVac, from Sinovac, and, at least, 90 days after they received the second injection.

On July 28, the head of the Immunization Unit of the Epidemiology Division of the Ministry of Public Health, Graciela Pérez Sartori, said that «with the vaccines available, it is possible to offer this to Uruguayans who want a new dose».

The Uruguay covid-19 Vaccination Data Monitor, with just one day after the application of the third dose, already registers more than 47,000 vaccinated with the booster.

In total, 2,413,655 people in the country have received two doses of the coronavirus vaccines, which corresponds to 68.12% of the population.

Ecuador will offer third dose to people with immunodeficiency

In Ecuador, for her part, the Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, announced this Tuesday that people with immunodeficiency will receive a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine, three months after the application of the second dose.

«As it has already been evaluated in other countries, people who have an immunodeficiency disorder will receive a third dose, in due course we will indicate the requirements and these will be placed three months after the second dose», said the official.

So far, in this country, of just over 17,750,000 inhabitants, 14,742,430 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been applied and 4,785,653 people have completed their immunization process with two doses.

Coronavirus and WHO

The position of the WHO is that the application of a third dose of vaccines against the coronavirus be postponed until the end of September, «so that all countries can vaccinate at least 10% of their population», according to the head of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in early August.

“So far more than 4 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide. More than 80% of vaccines have been distributed in high- and upper-middle-income countries, despite the fact that they represent less than half of the world’s population», he stressed.

He detailed that high-income countries have already administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people; while those with low income have only been able to administer 1.5 doses per 100 people, due to the lack of supply of vaccines.

The head of the WHO noted that he understands the concern of all governments to protect their populations from the Delta variant of the coronavirus, but indicated that it is not acceptable “that countries that have already used most of the world’s supply of vaccines still use more, while the most vulnerable people in the world remain unprotected.