MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

No more sanitary requirements to enter Paraguay

The vaccination status of travelers will still be monitored for surveillance purposes, Sequera explained

The government of Paraguay has lifted all sanitary requirements to enter the country, effective Monday, Oct. 24, it was announced.

Thus, the requirement to present a vaccination card attesting to the traveler's immunization against COVID-19 and a negative PCR test for unvaccinated non-resident foreigners will be lifted for all inbound routes currently operational.

Health Surveillance General Director Guillermo Sequera pointed out, however, that the vaccination status of people entering the country will continue to be recorded, although as a mere measure of surveillance and follow-up of the impact of the disease and not as a mandatory condition.

Sequera also pointed out that Health Ministry's decision was consistent with a sustained decrease in the number of cases for several weeks now, with no deaths recorded for two consecutive weeks. Only 35 new cases were detected between Oct. 9 and 15, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 717,628 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Health Ministry also announced that from January 2023, vaccines against COVID-19 will be applied only once a year, in a booster mode.

Expanded Program of Immunization Director Héctor Castro also explained that “we are no longer contemplating applying a fifth dose, so by the first days of January 2023, unless a major epidemiological change occurs, we will already have the updated composition of these vaccines,” which will be updated to target new strains of SARS-CoV-2 as they are detected.

These boosters will probably begin to be applied within the winter vaccination campaign and together with shots against influenza. “It is intended to be an annual reinforcement, especially for people with a high probability of contagion, with chronic diseases, vulnerable children, and elderly people,” Castro pointed out.

Paraguayan health authorities have administered some 9,459,579 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different brands, with 3,995,592 first doses (59.2 %), 3,529,592 second doses (52.3 %), 1,618,289 third or first-booster doses (23.9 %) and 316,078 fourth or second-booster doses (4.6 %).