Santiago de Chile (AFP)
The first 1,200 doses of vaccine against covid-19 were administered Monday on Easter Island, a territory in the middle of the Pacific, where no cases have been identified for more than 300 days thanks to the total closure to tourism.
"We start with the target group, that is to say all the health workers and also people over 80 years old," Easter Island mayor Pedro Edmunds told AFP.
Vaccines from Chinese laboratory Sinovac arrived Thursday on the weekly flight that connects the island to the mainland, 3,700 km away.
The island must receive a total of 16,000 doses and the authorities hope to vaccinate around 8,000 people, or 80% of the total population of the island.
The vaccination campaign will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday with people over 70, then Thursday and Friday with those over 65, said Juan Pakomio, director of Hanga Roa hospital, capital of the island. .
While mainland Chile has more than 755,000 infected people and more than 19,000 dead, the island has no more cases of coronavirus since it stopped tourism more than 300 days ago, putting a blow. stop at the local economy.
"We have not had a case of covid for 312 days thanks to the decision, approved by the community, to close the island," said Pedro Edmunds.
Without tourism, the island's main livelihood, locals live off supplies from the mainland and millennial Polynesian traditions based on sharing, according to the mayor.
The mass vaccination process began on Wednesday in Chile where 664,702 people were vaccinated in five days, including people over the age of 81, medical staff and public service workers.
© 2021 AFP