Pablo Sigal
02/01/2021 12:02
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/01/2021 12:02
The vaccination against the coronavirus, already passed the first month of 2021, confirms a presumption that since December Argentina tried to exorcise: postponement of South America, in particular, and of peripheral countries in general.
In the region,
only Brazil and Chile
have so far managed to achieve a robust and
palpable number
of doses so that their immunization campaigns are not testimonial or political, but truly sanitary.
Argentina has not yet been able to join that squad that at the end of February would also include Colombia.
The daily average of vaccination against Covid-19 in our country today means a
third of the world index
: 0.06 vaccinated per hundred inhabitants globally, against 0.02 in Argentina.
The local proportion represents, as of January 30, around
9,000 people inoculated every 24 hours
, according to official information compiled by the Our World in Data site.
At that rate, it would take about 13 years to vaccinate all Argentines.
Obviously, that cannot happen.
The provision of new batches of vaccines mainly from the
AstraZeneca
laboratory
, plus those provided by the
Covax
global solidarity
mechanism
, could make a difference in avoiding this enormous and ridiculous delay.
To that would be added what finally arrives at Ezeiza from the hitherto unpredictable Russian cast.
The world today vaccinates
4,200,000 people per day
.
However, the imbalances are evident: Israel inoculates 200 thousand people per day and that represents
2 out of every 100 inhabitants
;
The United States has an index of
0.4
, which implies for that country about
1,300,000 people every 24 hours.
v 1.5
Vaccination per day in the world
Tap to explore the data
Source:
OWID
Infographic:
Clarín
If Argentina vaccinated at the rate of the United States, for example, it would take just
587 days
to immunize its entire population.
That is, less than two years, as long as the available vaccines were also approved for those under 18 years of age.
The Argentine government achieved its initial goal of having the first doses against the coronavirus before the end of 2020. Those
300,000 vaccines
from Russia allowed the country to be one of the few to start its campaign before December 31.
However, the alleged production problems of Sputnik V, added to the eternal and for now unsuccessful negotiations with Pfizer and China, have caused
a brake on the national plan.
The arrival of the CoronaVac vaccine in Chile, which will allow it to begin an aggressive vaccination campaign.
Photo: Xinhua
The AstraZeneca conflicts in Europe due to the lack of delivery of doses in a timely manner and form, in addition, configure a little auspicious precedent for what may happen with the
22.4 million doses
that this laboratory has committed to Argentina in the course of 2021 , whose first batch of 1.2 million should arrive in March.
Brazil began to vaccinate after Argentina, but
at a much higher rate
.
In terms of its population, the country governed by Jair Bolsonaro (one of the greatest deniers of the pandemic)
inoculates 5 times more
: 0.10 inhabitants per 100, compared to 0.02 in the country governed by Alberto Fernández (one of the maximum champions of isolation).
A nurse and an elderly woman vaccinated next to Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: EFE
For its part, Chile begins this week with the application of
four million doses
purchased from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, after having obtained a first batch (testimonial) from Pfizer.
That will soon place the trans-Andean neighbors also above Argentina in the vaccination rate.
Compared to Europe, countries like France, Italy, Germany and Spain apply
between 6 and 7 times more vaccines per number of inhabitants
than Argentina.
In the UK the speed of immunization is 28 times faster.
In contrast, the South American reality is at levels similar to that of Argentina, except in the cases mentioned.
The delay in the delivery of a greater quantity of doses of Sputnik V supposes for our country a double cost: not only to have a
lower firepower
against the Covid, but also that the scarce ammunition obtained has taken a key capital. in public health matters: the confidence that
transparency
inspires
.
A man receives the second dose of Sputnik V at the San Martín de La Plata Hospital.
Photo: Reuters
The benefits of the December "spike" still have their weight in the total number of vaccinated in the country.
In this provisional balance, the distance with respect to the world is not so wide:
0.81 vaccinated per 100 Argentines, versus 1.21 globally.
But the game is long and that
initial
rush
can become short-lived.
The largest number of coronavirus vaccines are administered today by
central countries
, which despite their own setbacks always go for the championship.
Such a voracity that the WHO should have already raised its rigorous alert in this regard.
In this context, Argentina has stagnated in the rather low part of the table, due to the number of immunized citizens, and its urgent challenge is to try to avoid the relegation zone.
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