Health Minister Enrique Paris reported that, according to information gathered by the Health Information and Statistics Department, 3,037,063 people have been inoculated in Chile against COVID-19 and that during Tuesday, 87,264 people had been immunized by 5 pm.
Speaking about the figures, Minister Paris thanked “the Primary Health Care workers and the mayors” for their work and praised “the capacity of the Chilean State for carrying out such a feat.”
Minister Paris highlighted that “more than 50% of those vaccinated are over the age of 65.” He added that 1,805,930 senior citizens over the age of 65 have participated in the mass vaccination rollout. He continued, “this is one of the goals we set for ourselves; to vaccinate our senior citizens first, as they are the ones who have given their lives working for Chile.”
As for the gender breakdown, 58.3% of those inoculated are women and 41.7% are men.
The Minister reiterated that this Wednesday, February 24, elementary school and preschool workers aged between 49 and 45 will be eligible for vaccination; on Thursday 25, those aged between 44 and 40; and on Friday 26, those who weren´t able to go during the week. People over 65 with or without pre-existing conditions who haven´t been vaccinated can also go for vaccination during this week.
Regarding this last point, the Minister insisted that “we are vaccinating those patients with pre-existing conditions; anyone over 65 with diabetes or hypertension can be vaccinated. We are immunizing people with chronic diseases.”