One year after the first case of coronavirus was detected in Chile and almost a month after the beginning of the mass vaccination process in the country, Imagen de Chile organized an international press conference together with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, institutions that were behind the successful strategy that has positioned Chile as one of the leading countries in the inoculation process against covid-19.
In the virtual meeting, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, stated that to date 22% of the susceptible population has been vaccinated, and highlighted the ambitious Chilean calendar that expects to reach 5 million people inoculated by the end of March and 80% of the population by the end of June, in order to achieve herd immunity by the end of the first semester.
The Minister of Science, Andrés Couve, stressed the importance of the role played by the inter-ministerial committee in ensuring the supply of vaccines for Chile. Advance planning and the availability of our country to carry out clinical trials were key elements that made it possible to open conversations with the laboratories and subsequently guarantee the purchase of millions of doses.
Rodrigo Yáñez, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the negotiations to acquire the vaccines against covid-19 as a "pragmatic strategy". The Undersecretary added that the Foreign Ministry activated the embassies and the network of commercial contacts early on to advance with the negotiations, since they knew that the vaccines would be highly demanded by the world.
During the meeting with international correspondents, the executive director of Imagen de Chile, Constanza Cea, said that the impeccable mass vaccination process has made Chile a regional and global leader, and remarked that it is a process that fills citizens with hope.