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Syringe in the car: Drive-in vaccination station in Santiago de Chile
Photo: Claudio Santana / Getty Images
SPIEGEL
: Ms. Martinez, Chile's vaccination program is very successful by international standards.
A quarter of the population has already received the first dose of a corona vaccination, and a tenth is completely immunized.
No other country recently vaccinated so quickly, namely 1.5 doses per 100 inhabitants daily;
not even Israel followed suit.
How did you do that?
Soledad Martínez
: I see three decisive factors: First, we have enough vaccine.
Second, we have the infrastructure to quickly vaccinate him, and thirdly, we hardly have any problems with vaccine skeptics because the pandemic was not politicized here like in other Latin American countries.
The pandemic is not a question of faith in Chile - as it is in Brazil.
Politics and health are separate spheres.
SPIEGEL
: How is it that, unlike most other countries on the continent - and around the world - you have enough vaccines?
Martínez
: Chile has a population of almost 19 million people.
We ordered as much vaccine as needed to vaccinate all adults twice.
In addition, we signed contracts very early on, even before there were studies, with all potential manufacturers, i.e. with Biontech / Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson.
We ordered Sputnik from Russia and Sinovac from China.
Geopolitical considerations did not matter.
SPIEGEL
: You weren't afraid to sit on the cans?
Martínez:
We are currently benefiting from
that our business-oriented president likes to go shopping (laughs).
No, seriously, it's thanks to him that he shopped at everyone so early.
And there is really no risk of getting stuck on the corona vaccines.
If one day we should have too much, we can either pass it on to other Latin American countries, swap it or sell it on.
SPIEGEL:
The vaccination campaign is slow in Europe.
The European Union has come under fire because too few cans have been ordered.
In your opinion, what went wrong in Europe?
Martínez:
Europe is paying the price for a certain Western arrogance.
It was mainly ordered from Biontech and AstraZeneca.
There were reservations about the eastern products.
It's not rational.
In a global pandemic, one should not just focus on individual or domestic manufacturers, but rather spread them widely.
Nothing goes according to plan in such a situation.
There can always be a fire in a company, as has already happened, or problems like now at AstraZeneca, and then the whole plan is over.
SPIEGEL:
Which vaccine is currently the big hit with you?
Martínez:
Here in Chile, we are currently mainly vaccinating the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, which is the fastest and in the largest quantities.
The renowned butantane institute in Brazil has tested and approved it.
That was worth just as much to us as recognition from the American Medicines Agency.
We have also been using Sinovac's flu vaccines successfully for years.
SPIEGEL:
Indeed, there are doubts about the safety and effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine.
It is only supposed to prevent a little more than 50 percent of all infections.
Martínez:
Striving for perfection is not helpful in this situation.
Sinovac prevents almost 100 percent of all severe courses.
SPIEGEL:
The number of cases is currently increasing rapidly in Chile as well.
Isn't the vaccination campaign helping so well?
Martínez:
The Sinovac vaccine prevents severe courses, but not infections with Covid-19 or the transmission of the virus.
Further measures are therefore necessary to keep the pandemic under control, especially since there is still no vaccination for children.
SPIEGEL:
In Germany, there is also the problem that the existing vaccine doses were administered too slowly.
Why is Chile so fast?
Martínez:
We created the infrastructure for large immunization campaigns decades ago.
We vaccinate against the flu every year.
Even in rural areas there are health centers, each with responsibility for a specific area.
So that people don't have to wait together in closed rooms, they are also vaccinated in football stadiums and schools or drive-ins are organized.
However, making appointments is also a key to success.
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Waiting for the vaccination with Sinovac: A vaccination center in Chile on March 16, 2021
Photo: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
SPIEGEL:
How does it work?
Martínez:
There are no vaccination appointments.
There is a central, public calendar with days on which a very specific group is vaccinated.
Around all 65-year-olds on Tuesday, February 16 - this is just a made-up example.
Every 65-year-old can then go to a health center, at home or anywhere else, and get vaccinated with their ID card - that's all they need.
Some do it at the vacation spot.
SPIEGEL:
Chile wants 80 percent of all adults to be vaccinated by June.
Is this realistic?
Martínez:
Yes, it is.
But you shouldn't forget that it all has a price.
Our health workers are heavily overloaded.
There are many mental health problems like burnouts.
SPIEGEL:
Chile is a very unequal country.
Around 80 percent of people are insured in the public system, around 18 percent purely privately, which gives them access to better benefits.
Is this difference also noticeable in the vaccination campaign?
Martinez:
Hardly.
Our health system is very unequal, that's true.
The vaccination campaign, however, is not.
Vaccinations are organized through the public system.
Some richer communities offer tango shows for vaccination entertainment or drive-ins.
This may not be the case in the poorer areas.
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Drive-in vaccination: The health workers in Chile are currently overworked
Photo: Esteban Felix / AP
SPIEGEL:
So the rich aren't vaccinated faster or with other substances?
Martínez:
Basically, you cannot choose which vaccine you are vaccinated with.
For example, we are currently using Biontech for people with particular difficulties in the immune system.
The central vaccination dates apply nationwide, which means that a richer community cannot vaccinate their 65-year-olds on a large scale earlier.
There is about one percent deviation from this order, which is believed to be due to local corruption.
But that's a minor problem.
SPIEGEL:
Are refugees or people who are illegally in the country also vaccinated?
Martínez:
At the beginning everyone was vaccinated, that was also the publicly stated strategy.
Then a Peruvian TV show unfortunately showed that foreigners can be immunized in Chile and called for vaccination tourism.
Our foreign minister then declared that only Chileans would be treated.
Since then, the situation has been unclear and will probably be decided on-site on a case-by-case basis.
SPIEGEL
: Before the pandemic, there was social unrest in Chile and protests against the incumbent president, Sebastián Piñera.
Does he benefit from good vaccination management?
Martínez:
The president is close to business and therefore not a supporter of lockdowns.
He drives a rolling course with openings and tightening.
Sometimes the shopping centers were open and the recreational parks in nature were closed.
That had little logic.
The vaccination campaign is a success.
The president has not yet benefited very much from this.
However, I am concerned because he is now trying to make more political use of the triumph.
SPIEGEL:
To what extent?
Martinez:
In fact, Piñera is trying to make a big splash with the vaccination campaign.
"We are world champions!" Is the mantra.
In the meantime, 95 percent of the intensive care beds are occupied, on the one hand with those patients who postponed treatment last year and can no longer wait.
But we also have so many new infections with Corona that more and more young people are now in the hospitals, including people around 30 who have not yet been vaccinated.
Unfortunately, the alleged world champion is just about to gamble away everything in the 87th minute.
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