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Managua (AFP)
Spain delivered almost half a million doses of AstraZeneca to Nicaragua this Sunday to support the vaccination process against covid-19 in the Central American country, which is experiencing a strong wave of infections, reported a diplomatic source.
“Spain today donated a new batch of 499,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to Nicaragua. With this fourth delivery, the total number of vaccines donated by Spain amounts to 1,130,020 doses,” said the embassy of the European country in a press release.
The operation was carried out through the Covax mechanism, an initiative that the World Health Organization (WHO) launched this year to guarantee fair and equitable access to vaccines in poor countries like Nicaragua.
“These donations are part of the effort by Spain to provide a joint multilateral response to the pandemic, which has particularly hit the Latin American and Caribbean region, with which Spain maintains close historical and cooperative ties,” he stressed. the Embassy.
Madrid pledged to provide 15 million doses to the Latin American region and is currently the main donor to Nicaragua.
The Central American country, with 6.5 million inhabitants, accumulates 13,911 cases and 202 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health, which, unlike previous months, has recognized a significant increase in infections as of August.
However, the official figures are questioned by the network of independent doctors of the Citizen Observatory, which registers 28,247 suspected cases, of which 5,230 have died with symptoms linked to the virus.
The Observatory, whose information is unknown to the government, warned that the highest number of infections of the year was registered in September, mainly due to “crowds and the lack of public information” on the advance of the virus in Nicaragua, the only country in the region that did not declare quarantines.
Although the health authorities have recommended that the population wear masks, respect social distancing and reinforce hygiene measures, crowds for recreational or sports activities continue without restrictions.
As of mid-September, slightly more than 4% of the population over 45 years of age and chronically ill had been vaccinated. Since then the immunization of people over 30 has accelerated.
In October, the authorities intend to vaccinate with the first dose at least 32% of those over 30, who have been standing in long lines in front of the vaccination centers for a week.
Immunization in Nicaragua is carried out with AstraZeneca and Covishield vaccines and initially also with the Russian Sputnik V.
© 2021 AFP
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