MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More than 50% of Uruguayans vaccinated with both doses

Uruguay has vaccinated over half its population with both doses, but “it's not over” for Salinas. Photo: REUTERS/MARIANA GREIF

Uruguay's Health Minister Daniel Salinas Monday announced his country had already inoculated over half its population against SARS-Cov-2 with two doses of anticoronavirus vaccines.

“We have just surpassed 50% of the total population of the country with two doses against the coronavirus,” Salinas posted on his Twitter account and added that the government's goal was to exceed 70% of the population with the full treatment in a nation where even teenagers are immunized.

Chile's vaccination drive remains the most successful in terms of the percentage of its population who have received the drugs (over 55%), while Paraguay and Venezuela are on the opposite end of the list.

Since the start of the immunization campaign, Uruguay has administered at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine to 2,302,717 people, almost 65% of its population, while 1,772,583 people have already received the second injection of either the Sinovac or the Pfizer vaccines, the latter used even among teenagers.

Uruguayan authorities have reported 547 new cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest figure since March 22, for a total amount of 372,709 infections since the beginning of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, Salinas insisted: “This match is not over. Not to loosen up.”

There are 44,525 people scheduled to receive the first dose Tuesday, and another 426,542 who will take their second shot.

Uruguay and Chile are way ahead of Colombia, where only 13.6% of its population has had the complete scheme, slightly ahead of Brazil with 12.7% and Argentina with 10.1%. Further back in the ranking are Peru with just over 9.3%; Ecuador, with 7.7% and Bolivia, with 5.9%. Paraguay (1.9%) and Venezuela (0.8%) complete the list.