A woman receives a vaccine as part of the seasonal flu vaccination campaign for children and the elderly during the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), in Santiago, Chile, April 13, 2021. REUTERS / Ivan Alvarado
Chile’s health authorities said on Thursday that a drop in the record number of cases the Andean nation had seen in the past week was a “stabilization” of the second wave of COVID-19, due to a strict blockade and a fast schedule. vaccination that has completely inoculated a third of the population.
Health Minister Enrique Paris told reporters he hoped last week’s 9,000 daily cases were the latest outbreak.
“Once we reach this peak, we expect not a reduction, but a stabilization and then a return to a smaller number of positive patients,” he said.
Chile has now vaccinated 50 percent of the target population of 15 million people with at least one dose of drugs developed by Pfizer or Sinovac and given 32.7 percent two doses, Paris said.
He said stricter blockades now covering more than 80 percent of the country, along with public awareness campaigns, should allow Chile to hold elections on May 15 to elect the electorate to draft a new constitution, as well as to local government officials. Elections have been postponed since April.
Chile’s experience of the pandemic is being watched with concern by many beyond its borders to see how far the vaccination campaign – one of the fastest and most extensive to date – will attenuate the successive waves of the virus.
On Friday, it will become one of the first countries in the world to publish “real world” data showing how effective vaccines have been in reducing contagion, serious illness and death.
Health experts remain divided over whether blockages and vaccines will be enough to reduce the second wave imminently or whether fresh strains of the virus, limited vaccine effectiveness and citizens’ defiance of health measures will continue to increase.
Paula Daza, the country’s chief public health official, said vaccines are already reducing the rates of infection and hospitalizations of older groups who were first inoculated.
“People under the age of 50 account for 65% of confirmed cases (COVID-19) and 41% of those hospitalized,” she said.
Claudia Reyes, a 38-year-old intensive care nurse at Santiago Workers’ Hospital, said she has seen an “exponential” increase in the cases of largely younger patients.
She said that fatigue or indifference to blockages is evident among the general population, despite daily broadcasts about the severity of the second wave.
“There are so many people on the streets, on public transportation,” she said. “It seems that last year the population was better understood, but this time, regardless of the situation of COVID, that there were fewer or no hospital beds left, people’s awareness is not in line with reality.”
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