One million doses of the Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine, which Guatemala bought from Russia, expired on Monday. The Central American country’s government blamed anti-vaccine groups, which generate misinformation about immunizers.
“Unfortunately, we have to live with a factor that has to do with the rejection of vaccination by an important sector of the population”, lamented the Minister of Health, Francisco Coma, at a press conference. He reported that 1,062,412 doses of the Russian vaccine – which does not have the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) – have reached their expiration date due to resistance of some people to being vaccinated.
According to authorities, the vaccination campaign in the country ran into “myths and rumours”. They presented cases in which health workers were attacked in some communities.
Coma reported that attempts were made to negotiate with Russia for an exchange of vaccines close to expiration, without a favorable response. The expired doses are part of the 8 million that Guatemala bought from the Russian Direct Investment Fund last April, at a cost of 79.6 million dollars.
Faced with the expiration of the million doses, opposition deputies announced that they will ask the Minister of Health for accountability in Congress, denouncing the government’s shortcomings in the vaccine transfer process.
Guatemala has 17 million inhabitants and has 777,000 cases of Covid, with 17,000 deaths. A total of 5.6 million people have a complete vaccination schedule, of different vaccines, applied to people aged 12 years and over. The country already applies the booster dose.
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