Guatemala to receive Covid-19 vaccines in March

The government in Guatemala announced that negotiations for the purchase of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine “have advanced” and that the immunizer could arrive in the country next month.

With 6,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 164,000 infections, Guatemala has yet to begin vaccinating its citizens. Besides Sputnik V, the country is awaiting 400,000 doses from the UN-backed COVAX facility, planning to distribute them to 135,000 health professionals at the beginning of March.

President Alejandro Giammattei said his government is also attending meetings with representatives from AstraZeneca. The plan is to vaccinate half of the country’s 17-million population by June. 

Vaccination in Latin America

On February 3, Nicaragua became the sixth country to authorize the emergency use of Sputnik V. However, only Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico have used the vaccine so far, while Paraguay and Venezuela await shipments. According to scientific journal The Lancet, the Russian-developed vaccine has 91.6-percent efficacy against the coronavirus. 

Of the region’s 20 countries — not including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico — ten have begun vaccination programs. The majority have used the Pfizer vaccine, with the exception of Brazil (Sinovac), Peru (Sinopharm), and Argentina and Bolivia (Sputnik V).

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