Chile receives new shipment of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines with 43,875 doses

Interior Minister Rodrigo Delgado and Science Minister Andrés Couve were at the Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Santiago on Wednesday morning to receive 43,875 new doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Belgium.

With the arrival of these vaccines the Government will continue its immunization plan to combat the pandemic nationwide, following the inclusion a few days ago of groups of senior citizens who reside in Long Term Care Facilities (ELEAM).

Minister Delgado emphasized the Government’s negotiations in obtaining these new vaccines: “Information came out over the weekend that the Pfizer laboratory was having some difficulties fulfilling orders for vaccines worldwide.  This is affecting many countries, and Chile was, of course, among them at first (…) President Sebastián Piñera negotiated this personally, speaking directly to senior executives in order to express his concern and say how important it was to fulfil their commitment to Chile.  President Piñera was very concerned with the schedule, with continuing with what was promised.  And so, on Monday, Pfizer responded that with this shipment, that just arrived, they were going to meet their commitment on time and in full.”    

“These 43,875 doses that have just arrived from Pfizer/BioNTech will allow us to stay on schedule. They are doses that are approved for senior citizens and will be authorized in the schedule,” Minister Delgado added.  

Meanwhile, Minister Couve stressed that “the doses we received this morning are the fourth shipment of this vaccine, so we have now received around 154,000 doses, allowing us to continue with the immunization schedule defined by the Health Ministry and its technical agencies.”

Referring to the evaluation that the Public Health Institute will carry out today for the emergency use of the Sinovac vaccine, Minister Couve stated, “we must remember that Pfizer is one of four agreements that Chile has to receive vaccines from different laboratories:  Pfizer, Sinovac, Janssen and Oxford/AstraZeneca. This morning the ISP, which is our level 4 regulatory agency and which authorizes the use of vaccines in Chile, will meet and evaluate the Sinovac vaccine in order to incorporate it into the immunization plan”.

“The ISP is going to meet with experts and they are going to review all the existing information on this vaccine, including information on the clinical trials being carried out in our country. This is a vaccine of Chinese origin but it is being tested in Chile, and therefore has the technical, scientific and clinical support of our own professionals who are testing the vaccine, as well as that of the Chilean volunteers who are contributing to ensure that this is a safe and effective vaccine,” Minister Couve added.