Q24N – The first batch of vaccines produced by China’s Sinopharm arrived Sunday in Lima, Peru, according to that country’s president, to begin immunization against the coronavirus when the country faces the second wave of the pandemic.
Francisco Sagasti announced the arrival of 300,000 doses of the vaccines on Twitter.
“I’m grateful to the efforts of the private sector and civil society which made this success possible,” he said. “We are ready to start the first vaccination for those who risk their lives for us and fight in the front lines.”
Las vacunas ya están en el Perú🇵🇪
Agradezco el esfuerzo del sector público, privado y la sociedad civil que hicieron posible este logro.
Empezaremos la primera fase de vacunación protegiendo a la primera línea de peruanas y peruanos que arriesgan su vida por nosotros.— Francisco Sagasti (@FSagasti) February 8, 2021
The vaccine shipment arrived at Jorge Chávez del Callao airport on a flight from Beijing that made a stop at the Charles de Gaulle airport in France.
By land and air, more than 1,000 police transferred the batch of vaccines to the warehouses of the National Center for Supply of Strategic Health Resources (Cenares) in Callao where they will enter for distribution.
The next batch of vaccines, 700,000 doses, are scheduled to arrive Feb. 13, Sagasti said, adding that health professionals, armed forces, police officers, student firefighters and health workers will be given priority in inoculation.
Peru has reported 1,186,698 infections and more than 42,308 deaths (as at February 7, 2021) in a population of 33.2 million.
The country is now in a targeted quarantine that includes Lima and nine other regions, due to a sharp increase in infections, deaths and hospitalizations.