Mass vaccination against Covid-19 was due to take off this week in Bolivia with those over 60 years of age, but faces coordination difficulties, with controversies over whether or not there are enough vaccines, amid a partial medical strike that is 53 days old and the frustration of many people summoned to be immunized without achieving it.
The long lines were registered since Monday in several medical centers that did not have the vaccines to begin the immunization scheduled for this phase, after the period dedicated to health personnel and people with underlying diseases, such as cancer and diabetes.
The Government of Luis Arce has blamed the departmental health services of the nine regions of the country for the delays, stating that they had enough vaccines to start vaccinating those over 60 years of age.
According to the Minister of Health, Jayson Auza, the Sedes (Departmental Health Services) received 947,970 vaccines, but only used 34% of them, in such a way that they would have 624,508 doses to begin the new phase.
Bolivia has purchased or benefited from donations of vaccines from the Sputnik V and Sinopharm brands, but it will also have those from AstraZeneca and to a lesser extent those from Pfizer.
Auza rejected the complaint that there are no vaccines, but said that “weaknesses have been detected in the vaccination process as such,” so the headquarters will be reinforced with ministry personnel.
According to Auza, in a vaccination campaign in Bolivia 900,000 doses are normally applied per year, so inoculating 15 million vaccines to 7.5 million people by September is a “titanic” task.
In the midst of the problems, the national head of Epidemiology, María Bolivia Rothe, resigned her position and alleged personal reasons on her Twitter account, denying disagreements with the minister, as the media had pointed out.
In the regions of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, where up to 85% of the nearly 11.3 million inhabitants of the country live, the headquarters and medical leaders denounced a shortage of vaccines for the size of the population they must serve .
The director of the La Paz Headquarters, Ramiro Narváez, illustrated what happens with the following phrase: “the multiplication of bread was made by Jesus, we cannot multiply vaccines.”
For their part, the health authorities of Santa Cruz indicated that they need to serve 200,000 people over 60 years of age, for which 400,000 doses are needed, but for that region, according to government figures, there are 152,000 vaccines.
Furthermore, according to regional authorities, the problem is that the Government does not have all the information on the vaccines used due to computer problems in rural areas.
Medical leader: we do not speak the same language
The top leader of the La Paz medical union, Fernando Romero, told France 24 that the Government and the doctors “do not coordinate absolutely anything” due to their confrontation over the health emergency law enacted in February, which has led to a partial strike by the sector that has completed 53 days.
The medical unions argue that this rule precisely violates their right to protest by prohibiting the suspension of activities during the pandemic and, furthermore, opens the doors for the return of Cuban medical brigades, which they reject.
“We do not speak the same language due to that unconstitutional law. There is no coordination on vaccines, or medications, or oxygen, or personnel to deal with the Brazilian strain that, according to studies, will arrive in two or three weeks, “said Romero, when calling the Government to dialogue to solve the problem.
Bolivia closed its borders with Brazil for a week to prevent the spread of the Brazilian variant of the coronavirus, although trade is allowed at the border for three hours a day.
The partial strike has affected 20% of the care in the state health system, according to the unions themselves, which have also mobilized their members to block roads in the eastern and central parts of the country for hours.
Rosa Condori waits for the vaccine to end her confinement
Amid the complaints of the people who were frustrated, France 24 spoke with the Aymara married couple Casimiro Paco and Rosa Condori, both 77 years old, residents of the Alto Obrajes neighborhood of La Paz, where a small health post made a schedule for vaccines, but he had to suspend it because he did not have the doses.
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“What can we do? We can not wait. We want to go out on the street. I can’t even go to the market. Since last year I no longer go out. Sometimes, I have a little escape, but our children won’t let us out because of the pandemic ”, says Condori, who sees in the vaccine the possibility of resuming a certain normality in his life.
The woman and her husband got up early today with the hope of receiving the vaccine, despite the fact that this medical center had planned that this week it would only attend to people over 80 years of age.
Who can we claim? The Government should allocate vaccines for everyone because we are suffering, ”said Paco, who will return next week if everything returns to normal.
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, the pandemic has caused a total of 12,344 deaths and a cumulative figure of 275,392 infections, of which 37,565 remain active.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/controversy-over-delay-in-mass-vaccination-against-covid-19-in-bolivia/
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