AUG. 11, 2021

President Piñera initiates COVID-19 booster dose vaccination program: “I am very proud of all the elderly men and women who show us examples of joy, faith and hope every day”

The process will begin this Wednesday for people aged 86 and over, and lower age groups will be gradually included. 

This Wednesday, the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, initiated the COVID-19 booster dose vaccination program.  

The vaccine will initially be offered to older people and will then follow the order in which the second CoronaVac doses were applied in the original vaccination program. This means that the same prioritization criteria will be followed as before.  

“We began vaccinating people in Chile on December 24 last year. Chile was one of the first countries in the world and in Latin America to begin the vaccination process, because vaccine is one of the best tools we have to protect us from this pandemic that has caused so much damage,” the President said from the Chilean Air Force Hospital (FACh), where he was accompanied by the First Lady, Cecilia Morel, and Health Minister Enrique Paris. 

It is hoped that around 2 million over-55s will be vaccinated with a booster dose during the first four weeks of the program. The vaccination calendar will also continue according to the order in which the second doses were applied in the original program. This means that the priority groups vaccinated during February will again take priority this time around. 

“It is also true that there are 1.8 million people who have yet to be vaccinated. I want to ask them once and for all just how they can be so stubborn and fail to understand that by not getting vaccinated they are not only putting their own lives at risk, but also the lives of all those around them, their families, their loved ones, their friends and their work colleagues,” the President explained. 

As of this Wednesday, Chile had received more than 30.2 million COVID-19 vaccines, thanks to agreements with the Sinovac, Pfizer, CanSino, AstraZeneca and Janssen laboratories. 

Chile’s target population numbers 15,200,840 people. Of these, 88.37% have received a first dose and 82.44% have received both doses. On Thursday, July 29, the country reached the goal of fully vaccinating 80% of the target population. 

“I feel proud of all the elderly men and women who provide an example of joy, faith and hope to us all every day. I wish that the young people had the same joy and the same strength that older people are showing,” the President concluded.